Dean Winchester and the Book of Dreams
by MadnessMantra
Summary: Dean does not want to be a wizard and he does NOT want to go to Hogwarts, but here he is. To make matters worse, his only friend is the weird kid who is probably stalking him, and his Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is a certified nutjob. Throw in a cursed book and a monster from the Forbidden Forest attacking the students, and this might be the worst year ever.
1. From the Beginning

Dean Winchester and the Book of Dreams

A Supernatural/Harry Potter Crossover

Because I couldn't find the fic I wanted, I decided to write it myself.

Made purely for my own amusement, though reviews are appreciated

Spoilers for SPN 7.01, slight Destiel

Chapter 1: From the Beginning

* * *

The warning signs should have been obvious- the lights exploding whenever he got really mad, the TV changing channels when he wasn't anywhere near the remote. Dean knew that he should not ignore evidence of any supernatural activity, his father had trained him better then that. But really, the very idea was ridiculous. He wasn't a witch. He had never consorted with demons, never asked for their demonic powers, never even wanted them. He was going to become a hunter, like his dad. Ever since he was four, that was the only option available to him. He had never even considered anything else. He certainly hadn't considered becoming the sort of thing that they hunted. So he fell into denial, justifying every strange occurrence as a freak accident, or a coincidence, or anything other then the truth. He was able to do it for years, until suddenly, the same thing started happening to Sam.

"Don't tell Dad."

Sam Winchester was six and still didn't understand why his family kept moving around, why Dean had to watch him all the time, or what all the strange symbols that Dad scribbled in his journal meant. But he knew, almost instinctively, that his father would not react well to him accidentally levitating the TV remote.

Dean stared at his younger brother in shock, mind finally accepting all the previous signs, and coming to the obvious conclusion.

_Holy shit, Sam and I are freaking witches._

"Don't worry, Sammy, I won't"

Sam nodded eyes still wide with fear, and Dean remembers a brief conversation he had with his dad a few months ago.

"Hey Dad? What happens if someone has magic powers, but doesn't use them on purpose?" Dean had asked, purely out of curiosity. "Would you still hunt them?"  
"Yes." John answered automatically. "If anything, the fact that they can't control their powers makes them all the more dangerous."

"Even if they weren't hurting anybody?"

"It would only be a matter of time before they did, son. There's what's human, and then there's what not. Hesitating over something like that could end up costing you your life"

It is at this moment that Dean has another sudden revelation. The two of them needed to get as far away from their dad as possible, and _fast._

Dad leaves on another hunt the next day, and Dean immediately starts packing.

"Dean? What are you doing?"

He looks at his younger brother, not sure how in the hell he's going to explain that they need to _go_, that he's not safe here, not around Dad, not ever. "Pack your stuff, Sammy. We need to go." He says instead, looking at the ground.

"Why?"

Dean grimaced. "I- I can't explain now Sam. We just have to go."

"Without Dad?"

"Yeah. Without Dad." Dean said, stuffing a wad of bills into his pocket.

"Are we running away?" Sam asked quietly. "Is this because of me?"

Dean didn't know how to respond to that. He swallowed, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on his bag. "If we go now, it'll be a few days before Dad even notices that we're gone. Get your stuff ready."

Dean was at a complete loss for what to do. He knew that his Dad was a master hunter who could track down almost anything, while he and Sam were a couple of kids who's transportation methods were distressingly limited. They didn't have a car, and even if they had enough money for plane tickets, Dean knew that the adults would start asking questions if they used them. There was no one that he could call for help, since the only adults he knew were hunters like Dad, and would probably put a bullet in Sams skull as soon as they figured out what was going on, and the police would just call Dad, and then they'd be right back where they started. They boarded a long distance train, and whenever someone would ask where their parents were Dean would lie and say that his Dad had just gone to the bathroom before casually switching train cars.

They lasted three weeks before the local police caught Dean shoplifting just over twenty dollars worth of beef jerky.

Dean hadn't meant to give the police Bobby's name, he honestly hadn't, but they kept asking who their parents were, and he had to say something, and Bobby's name had just slipped out. And five hours later, Bobby was there, with all the proper paperwork (completely forged, of course), and the next thing Dean knew, both he and Sam were in Bobby's car.

"What the hell were you boys thinking, running off like that? Your father's been worried sick."

"You called Dad."

"Of course I called your dad, Dean, he's been looking for the two of you non-stop. He thought you had been killed, or kidnapped, or worse. Now I know that you two have had it hard- Lord knows that I'm pissed as hell that John raised you into this life, but you don't just run out on family like that."

Dean felt himself panicking, unable to think of a way to explain to Bobby that that wasn't it at all without somehow revealing the truth when suddenly Sam cried out from the back seat.

"It's not Dean's fault! He was just trying to-"

Dean realizes that Sam's about to spill the beans, so he does the first thing he can think of, and does it first.  
"I'm a witch!" Dean shouts.

Bobby almost swerves into a tree in surprise. Sam gawks at Dean, and Dean suddenly realizes that he never made this confession to his younger brother before now. Whoops.

"A WHAT?" Bobby shouts as soon as he gets the car back on the road.

"I didn't mean to! I didn't say any spells or make a deal with a demon or anything, but all these weird things just sort of happened. Please, Bobby…"  
"Please what?"

"Don't- don't hunt me."

Bobby slams down on the breaks. "What the Hell is the matter with you, boy? Do you really think I'd kill you because of something that you've got no control over?"

"Dad says that you have to kill things that are supernatural. No exceptions."

"Of course there are exceptions!" Bobby shouts. "You always make exceptions for family!"

Dean nodded, holding back tears. "So you think… that dad will make an exception."

The fact that Dean felt it necessary to even ask this question was enough to give Bobby pause. John Winchester was a good man, and a damn fine hunter, but he was also hard, and singularly focused on his mission of revenge against the demon who had killed his wife. It was obvious that the hunt came first, in everything he did. One look at how he had raised his boys was enough to prove that. Bobby didn't like second guessing his friend, but suddenly, he needed to make sure before he handed Dean back over to him.

"Tell you what." Bobby said, struggling to keep his voice calm. "If he won't, then I will. And I'll personally hide you from him and any other hunter that tries to hurt you."

"Sam too." Dean said suddenly. Bobby glanced over at Sam, who still looked shocked at the whole exchange.

"Sam?"

Sam looked up. "I'm a witch too."

Ah. Well, that explains that.

Bobby picked up his phone and started to dial.

"John? Its Bobby. I just picked the boys up from the police station. No, they're fine. No- Now listen, this is important. Dean and Sam- They're wizards. No, not witches, wizards, there's a difference. I've done some reading, and it turns out that some folks are just born magical. There must be some of it in Mary's family. Now I- No, I don't mean anything by it. Listen, the powers are NOT demonic, and from what I've read, they're more or less harmless. There are secret societies of wizards all over pretty much everywhere, and they mostly just keep to themselves. There is a practical city of them up in Salem, even some kind of school. Now- Stop yelling, John, I didn't tell you because it's not a problem."

Bobby paused, and Dean could hear the yelling voice of his father on the other line. Bobby suddenly got angrier then Dean had ever seen him. "There IS no hunt! Christ, John, these are your sons we're talking about."

The car was suddenly filled with deathly silence.

Bobby suddenly got out of the car and slammed the door behind him. Dean could still see him yelling at his phone through the window, and he knew that the conversation wasn't going well.

Neither he nor Sam spoke. The silence was only punctuated by the muffled sound of Bobby's argument from outside the car.

Then, abruptly, Bobby hung up. Dean catches a look of the expression on his face, and is pretty sure that this what drowning feels like.

* * *

A hundred and twelve miles away, a phone hangs up with a satisfied click. The man behind it smiles merrily, incredibly satisfied with his work. After all, as far as tricks went, this one was going splendidly. Now there were just a few extra pieces that needed to be put into place before he can sit back at watch the show.

Leaning back in his chair, the man examined the unconscious body of John Winchester. Part of him was tempted to just leave him there, with no explanation as to why his best friend had mysteriously vanished with his two sons. After all, the guy had emptied an entire clip into him before he was able to knock him out, and even though the bullets didn't actually hurt him at all, it was the principal of the matter. But then again, this _was_ the father of two of the more interesting humans to come alone in a while, so he supposed he should go easy on the poor guy.

He gently grasped the sides of John Winchesters head and started editing his memories. By the time he was done, he would wake up believing that his wife and sons had all died in a perfectly ordinary house fire, and that he had fallen into a depression for a while but was well on the road to recovery. Once he was done, he removed his hands, grinning smugly. Now there was just one more thing that needed sorting-

As if on cue, there was a rush of wings, and he found himself face to face with the most rebellious angel in the garrison.

"Hiya, Castiel!"  
The younger angel stepped back in shock. "Gabriel- You- You're dead."  
"And now I'm not. You'd know all about that, wouldn't you?"  
Castiel glances briefly at the ground, before getting back to business. "You're directly interfering with the Winchesters timeline. This could change everything."  
"Good! Let it change! Believe me, little bro, I've got big plans for your favorite toys."  
Castiel's blade is suddenly in his hand. "Set things right now, or I swear I'll find some way of killing you."

Gabriel's expression changes then, from light and mocking to downright murderous. "Oh, I don't doubt that, Castiel, I don't doubt that at all. After all, who has more experience killing angels then you?"

Castiel's eyes widen at that. "If there was anything that I could do to undo what I have done… I realize now that it was a mistake-"

"And which mistake are we talking about here? Working with a demon? Killing Raphael? Slaughtering half the garrison? Opening the gates of Purgatory and almost wiping out all life on Earth? Because I've got to tell you, Castiel, those kinds of mistakes don't get forgiven just because you're sorry."

It is easy to forget, with all of Gabriel's jokes, his pranks on hapless humans, that he is in fact one of the most powerful creatures in all of creation. Perhaps _the_ most powerful now, with Raphael dead and Michael and Lucifer trapped in the cage. But he had never been feared like the other archangels had been, after all, he was laid back, and he never got angry.

He was angry now.

"You screwed up big time, Castiel, probably more then anyone else has, _ever_. So now I've got to clean up your mess. Well, by the time I'm done here, it will never have happened."

"You can't change the past like this, though!"  
"I can do whatever I want! In case you haven't noticed, I'm in charge now! And hey, you and the Winchesters already proved that it was possible to change the ending so you know what? I'm rewriting the whole damn book. No apocalypse, no civil war in heaven, no damned angel massacre. The angels go back to passively watching the world, and no one knows how big of a bullet the world collectively dodged. Everybody wins!"

Castiel was stunned by Gabriel's plan. By all accounts, something of this scale shouldn't even be possible, but if anyone could pull it off, it was Gabriel.

"And Dean and Sam? They will be able to live normal lives?"  
"Well, I don't know about normal, but happy? Sure, why not. I like those two idiots."

Castiel feels an almost overwhelming wave of gratefulness wash over him. What Gabriel was doing- it was more then he ever could have hoped for. "Thank you, Gabriel."

Gabriel waved it off, clearly unused to gratitude. "Hey, don't be thanking me yet. You still haven't heard what my plans for you in this are."  
"Whatever punishment you decide for me, I will accept it. I- deserve no less then death."  
"Oh for crying out- do you have to be so dramatic all the time? I'm not going to kill you, Castiel!" Gabriel shouted, annoyed. "I've got something much better planned."

Castiel looked up, confused, but when he saw the mischievous glint in Gabriel's eyes, a deep panic rushed through him.

_This was most likely going to be quite unpleasant._

* * *

To be continued...

Please review!


	2. Over the Hills and Far Away

Well, I'm able to write chapters for this thing surprisingly fast, so here you go, have another.

Dean Winchester and the Book of Dreams

Chapter 2: Over the Hills and Far Away

* * *

The makeshift family had quickly settled into a cheap apartment in London. Bobby wasn't entirely sure where the idea to relocate to London had come from, but blamed it on his incessant paranoia. Once they had successfully moved in, Bobby set to getting Dean ready for the upcoming school term- he was almost eleven and woefully behind, making Bobby realize just how much of the boys life had been dedicated to hunting. Well, Bobby was determined to put a stop to that. The boys would get a normal childhood if it was the last thing he did.

That is, until a little under a month later, there was a loud crash of shattering glass. Bobby ran into the kitchen to investigate to find Dean brandishing a broom as a makeshift weapon against a large brown owl that had flown in through the window.

"What the hell?" he shouted, taking in the bizarre scene.

"Awesome!" Sam exclaims from behind him.

Dean, on the other hand, seems less then pleased. "It keeps trying to shove some piece of paper in my face!"

Bobby approached the owl cautiously, taking the paper from its talons. "It's a letter. And it's addressed to you."  
"To me? What's an owl giving me letters for?"

Bobby opened the letter and read. "Dear Dean Winchester- We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at… Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Cool!" Sam exclaimed. "So you're going to learn how to do magic?"

"What? No I'm not!" Dean shouted, completely livid. "I'm not a witch!"

"Of course your not, witches are girls." Sam stated plainly before Bobby ushered him out of the room. Sam just hadn't had the same indoctrination in the hunting mindset as Dean had, and the six year old was just not understanding how getting to go to a wizard school was anything other then a good thing.

When he got back to the kitchen, he found Dean slumped in a chair, glaring at the owl who was picking at the table for crumbs of food as though this were all somehow its fault. Bobby sighed as he slid into a chair next to Dean, feeling the headache developing already.

"This doesn't have to be a bad thing, you know. Plenty of wizards live perfectly good, well adjusted lives. They aren't like the ones that your dad hunts."

Dean gives a disbelieving snort. "Dad didn't seem to think so."  
Bobby mentally curses John Winchester for giving the boy such a deep seated complex over something he has no control over.

"Can't I just… not go?" Dean asks, voice uncharacteristically quiet. Bobby considers it, but he's read about this and knows that an untrained wizard is incredibly dangerous, so he shakes his head no.

"It'll be alright, Dean, you'll see." He promises, wishing that Dean would believe him.

* * *

Bobby wasn't sure who was more entranced by Diagon Alley- him, or Sam. He knew that he was a grown man and there was no reason for him to get so irrationally excited at the wide variety of stores selling actual dragon scales, phoenix ash, and all sorts of rare mystical items he would never have access to otherwise. Sam, meanwhile was looking at everything with wide eyes, labeling almost every new discovery as the 'coolest thing ever'. Dean, on the other hand, had gotten increasingly irritable all day, clearly feeling that while they could make him attend Hogwarts, they couldn't make him be happy about it.

"So next thing on the list is wands." Bobby said, looking up at a sign that said 'Ollivanders' and pushing both of the boys inside.

"And who might you be?" The wide eyed man behind the counter asked.

"Dean Winchester." Dean said as his personal space was invaded by a flying tape measurer.

"Are you starting your first year of Hogwarts, Dean?"

"Yes." Dean said, clearly unhappy with that fact. Mr. Ollivander did not seem to notice Dean's foul mood, and instead enthusiastically pulled out a small stack of wands from the seemingly disorganized shelves.

"Well let's see what I can find for you then, Dean." He said, handing Dean the first wand in the stack. "Maple, ten inches, with the core of a phoenix feather."

Dean took the wand and stared at it dumbly.

"Well, go ahead, give it a wave."

"I don't know any spells." Dean protested.

"That's fine, just wave it."

Dean looked at the wand, feeling that this was possibly the most ridiculous thing he has ever done, and gave it a wave.

It promptly, and quite literally, blew up in his face.

Sam immediately started laughing.

"Shut up, Sammy!"

Ten wands later, and Bobby finally gave up and escorted a nearly hysterical Sam out of the wand shop, leaving behind an incredibly frustrated Dean with a promise to be waiting in the bookstore once he was done.

"Fine, whatever." Dean muttered as they went. He was seriously considering knocking one of the wand display racks over in frustration if one more of the thing exploded in his face again.

"You have to want it to work, you know!" Ollivander kept saying, as if that was ever going to happen. Dean was about to just give up and go to that sweet shop he had seen a few blocks back when a man opened the wand shop door with a flourish.

"Hello kind sir! I would like to purchase a wand for my baby brother." The man declared, motioning extravagantly to a dark haired and incredibly irritated looking boy.

"Of course." Ollivander said absentmindedly. "I just need to finish up with this one first. Having a bit of trouble matching him, I'm afraid."

"I see." The man said in the same loud, overly dramatic voice. Dean suddenly became convinced that there was no way that this guy talked like this normally, but he was instead acting purposefully obnoxious for the sole purpose of annoying and embarrassing his younger brother. And, judging by the fact that the younger boy was glaring at his brother with a stare that could melt lead, it was working.

Dean was distracted from this train of thought as another wand was shoved into his face.

"Unicorn hair, cherry wood, eleven and a half inches. Good for charms."

Dean looked at the thing mistrustfully before giving it a wave. Fortunately it didn't blow up, but it didn't do anything else either, and Ollivander snatched it away almost instantly, and muttered something under his breath as he went to the back room to fetch more wands.

"Have you tried this one?" The man asked in what Dean could only assume was his normal voice, holding a wand out to Dean. Suddenly, the dark haired boy's expression changed from annoyance to a strange mix of panic and indignation.

"Gabriel, you can't!"

"Relax, Cas, I'll give you one too if you don't make a fuss." He held the wand out to Dean, giving a tilted smile. Ollivander, meanwhile, stepped outside of the back room, took one look at the wand that was in front of Dean and promptly dropped all the boxes he was holding.

Dean knew well enough that when someone offered you a magical object that made everyone else in the room react like that, you did not, under any circumstances, take it. But, almost without realizing it, he found himself reaching for it. As he grasped it, the room was filled with a warm blue light, and even though it faded within a few seconds, Dean could still feel the energy within the wand. It felt almost alive somehow.

Ollivander stared at him with an expression that resembled that of a beached fish. "You… weren't annihilated."

Now _that_ statement knocked Dean out of his sudden sense of awe pretty damn quick.

"ANNIHILATED?!" He shouted, glaring at the irresponsible asshole who gave him the wand, who merely shrugged in reply. And was it just him or did the guy seem somewhat smug about the whole situation?

"Oh relax, there was a pretty low chance of that happening. It's more likely to cause blindness."  
"What the hell is even in this thing?" Dean shouts, wandering if it would be safe to drop the damned thing.

"Angel feather." The man giggles. The boy next to him looks like he's about to start trying to strangle him even if he is at least twice his age. Dean is finding he agrees with the sentiment.  
"There's no such thing as angels." Dean protests, realizing how ridiculous that sounds considering the fact that he's in a magic wand shop getting ready for his first year of wizard school.

"Of course there is." The man says dismissively before turning back to Ollivander. "So, how much?"

* * *

"I'm sorry that my brother Gabriel is so foolish." The boy had pulled Dean into an alley almost as soon as he had left the wand shop. Dean hadn't even seen him come out.

"Yeah. Is he always like that?"

"He does have a somewhat unique sense of humor, though he usually does not hand dangerous items to children, no."

Dean raised an eyebrow. "Dude, do you always talk like that?"  
The boy looked at him in open confusion. "Like what?"  
"So… formally?"

The boy paused, giving the question far more careful consideration then it required. "I have been told that I need to… remove the stick from my ass."

Dean burst out laughing. He decided he liked this kid. "I'm Dean. What's your name?"  
"Castiel."

"Where are you going now? I've got to go to the bookstore to meet my little brother and… and my guardian I guess."

"I will accompany you."

At the bookstore, they found Sam animatedly talking to a red haired boy his age while Bobby talked to a man who was obviously the boy's father, if the hair was any indication.

"So you're a mechanic on Muggle cars?" The man asked, practically gushing. "Do you think you could teach me how they work? I find the whole process fascinating."  
Bobby shrugged. "Sure, why not. It might take a while for you to get everything though. Cars can be pretty complicated."

The man clapped his hands happily. "So you'll come over then? You and your sons."

"He's not our dad." Dean protested, almost without thinking. Bobby shot him him a look that clearly said 'shut up and don't cause suspicion, you idiot'. "He's… our uncle. On our Mom's side." Dean added hastily.

"Oh, of course, sorry for the mistake."

"Not to worry. It happens all the time." Bobby says peacefully. "And of course we'll come over."

"Excellent! How about this Friday?"

Bobby nods in agreement and with that, the plan is made. The man and boy wander out of the bookstore with a large group of red headed children.

"Who was that?" Dean asks, not liking the fact that he doesn't even know the names of the people he is going to be spending his weekend with.

"Oh, that was Arthur Weasly. He's got a bunch of sons- a couple have got to be around your age."

Dean nodded, though he was slightly annoyed whenever adults started trying to pick friends for him. "Anyway, this is Castiel. We met at the wand shop."

"Castiel, huh? That's a pretty unusual name. You named after the angel of Thursday?"

Castiel shifted uncomfortably. "My family is… somewhat religious."

Something about the way that he said that made Bobby think that that was the understatement of the century, but he decided not to press the issue.

"Well all right then. How about we get you boys some robes?"

* * *

A few painful hours of shopping later, the group was standing outside a pet shop. Dean was somewhat surprised that Castiel had stayed with them throughout the whole ordeal.

"An owl?"  
"Yeah. That way you can send letters to me and Sam while you're at Hogwarts."

"Can't I just call? Or use the normal mail? Why would I want to use an owl?"

"Apparently owls are faster then the normal mail, and phones don't work inside the school."

"All right, all right." Dean muttered, examining the creatures, finally choosing a large black owl.

A few days latter, they pulled up to a house that in Dean's opinion looked like it was dangerously close to falling over.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Dean asks, eyeing the house suspiciously.

"Not really." Bobby muttered, probably mentally going through lists of construction regulations. "But it would be rude to back out now, so…"

Inside the house, there were what Dean qualified as 'way too many people'. Sam disappeared almost immediately into that boy Ron's room and Bobby got swept away into Mr. Weasly's garage to look at some 'project' that the man was working on, which left Dean to deal with the rest of the massive family- a task which he did not want at all. He had tried to start a conversation with the boy who was also beginning Hogwarts this year, Percy, but the two of them had fallen into an intensely uncomfortable silence almost immediately, and Dean had retreated to the back garden.

He wasn't sure how to react to all this. He was being thrown so far outside his comfort zone that he had little idea how to respond to anything. It wasn't only the fact that he was now surrounded by wizards, though he supposed that was a big part of it, but that now, for pretty much the first time ever, he was going to a school that he was going to be staying at for more then a few weeks.

It wasn't that he was shy. If you asked anyone at any of Deans former schools, they would tell you he was anything but. He was good at charming both his teachers and his fellow classmates alike.

But when it came to actual friends, Dean had never had any. They had moved around too much, and he had to watch over Sam, and there had always been more important things to do. He had never thought that he needed them, not when he had his family. Only now, when he left for Hogwarts, he wouldn't. Sam was four years younger then him and wouldn't be joining him at the school for a while.

It suddenly struck Dean just how utterly alone he was going to be this upcoming school year. He pushed the realization down to a mental box that he had labeled 'not thinking about, ever', but the panic had already started to set in.

He shook his head. No, he would be fine. He could survive anything. He could make it through this too.

After all, just how bad could the school be?

* * *

To be continued…

Please review!


	3. Crazy Train

Just to clear things up, Gabriel is basing his new reality on the Harry Potter books, but no one else except Castiel remembers the original timeline, and Castiel hasn't read the books, so he doesn't really even know what's happening.

None of the other angels even realize this is happening since there is now no reason for them to have come down to earth in the first place, and Gabriel is still technically in hiding as a Trickster. This whole situation is just his way of amusing himself while simultaneously screwing around with Castiel (ie. stripping him of most of his power and sticking him in the body of an eleven year old) and making sure Dean doesn't break the first seal.

I'm going to try and update this fic every Friday.

With that taken care of, let's get back to the story!

**Dean Winchester and the Book of Dreams**

**Chapter 3: Crazy Train**

* * *

A few weeks later, it was finally time to board the Hogwarts Express. Dean decides that he is thankful for the Weasleys because there is no way that they would have been able to find Platform 9 and ¾ without them.

Sam gave him a big hug. "Promise that you'll write to me, okay?" Dean nods numbly, using up nearly all his self control not to break down right then and there as he says good by to his younger brother for the first time in his whole life.

As soon as the hug breaks, Bobby pats him on the back. "You behave now. If I find out that you've been getting into trouble I will come marching down there, magic or no magic."  
"Yes sir." Dean nods, because even if he is most decidedly not their father, Bobby has been good to them these past few months, and has earned Deans respect.

Dean walks into a random car where two boys and a girl are already sitting. He is about to sit down when suddenly-

"Hello, Dean."

He nearly jumps a foot into the air. "Jeeze! Don't sneak up behind people like that!"

"My apologies." Castiel says stiffly. "Do you mind if I sit with you?"  
"Uh, yeah, sure." Dean agrees, making room for him on the bench. Castiel sits next to him and starts staring out the window.

"So are your parents wizards?" One of the boys asks, interrupting the silence. "Mine are, of course, and so are Bole's." He mentions to the boy sitting next to him. "We both can trace wizard blood in our families for at least fifty generations."

Castiel looks up, brow furrowed. "There is… a long history of magic users in my family."

"Well that's good then." The other boy says, nodding in approval.

The girl looks up, confused. "Why? Are people with wizard parents better at magic or something?"

"Of course." The boy says dismissively. "Don't tell me your parents are both Muggles?"

"Well, my mom is a witch, but my dad is."

The boy shrugs. "Well I suppose that's better then nothing."

Dean suddenly finds himself getting incredibly offended on the girls behalf. Who did these two assholes think they were, insulting her family like that?

"How about you?" He said, finally turning to Dean. "Don't take the wrong way or anything, but I'm guessing that both of your parents were Muggles."  
"Yeah, they were. So? My dad could still kick your dad's ass."

Castiel gives a low chuckle as the boy flushes with indignation.

"You take that back."  
"Why? It's the truth."

"You want to take this outside?"  
"We're on a moving train, dumbass."

"You know what I meant."

"Yeah, I did, and believe me dude, you'd get your ass handed to you, so don't even try it."

The boy pulls out a wand, and Dean jumps up, grabs the kids wrist, and flips him right out of the cart and into the trains hallway. He hits the wall of the hall with a thunk and several other students stare at the scene, stunned.

Dean shrugs and walks back to his cart. The other boy glares at him before running out, shouting something along the lines of 'you won't get away with this!'

As he sits back down, Castiel looks at him with something akin to amusement. "As satisfying as I'm sure that was, I doubt that it is a good idea to get into a fight before the first day of school has even started."

Dean gives a lopsided grin. That was the most fun he's had in a while.

* * *

About thirty minutes of idle chitchat later, a woman comes in carrying a cart of sweets, and Dean buys himself a slice of pie. He's actually in a pretty good mood now.

"So do you know what house you're going to be sorted into?" The girl asks. "Pretty much my whole moms side of the family is in Ravenclaw, so that's where I think I'm going to go too."

Dean looks at her in confusion. "House? What are you talking about?"

"You don't know? Even if your parents are Muggles you should have at least read enough about the school to know this!"

Dean shrugs. He remembers that Bobby did try to shove a book called 'Hogwarts: A History' in his face a few weeks ago, but he had zero desire to read it, so he hadn't.

"Well anyway, everyone who goes to Hogwarts gets sorted into one of four houses. There's Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Hufflepuff."  
"Hufflepuff? That sounds like a brand of marshmallow."

The girl laughed at that. "Yeah, everyone that I've talked to pretty much agrees that Hufflepuff is the lamest house."

"Well then I definitely don't want to end up sorted in there. How do they decide who goes where?"

"Its based on personality, apparently. Ravenclaw gets all the people with brains, Slytherin gets the people with ambition, Gryffindor gets the people with courage and Hufflepuffs are all apparently really nice."

"From what you're saying, I think I'll probably end up in Gryffindor. Where do you think your going to end up, Cas?"  
"I don't have a preference."

Dean shrugs, and has another bite of pie.

* * *

After they all pile out of the train and take a rickety boat ride that Dean is determined to never think of again, it is finally time for the sorting.

"Dude, it's a talking hat."  
"I can see that, Dean." Castiel replies, looking about as disturbed by the thing as Dean feels.

After singing a long, loud, and slightly off tune song about the four houses, the thing starts calling students names. Apparently, you're supposed to put the dirty and possibly possessed hat on your head and then it chooses what house you're sorted into.

The two boys who Dean almost got into a fight with, Lucian Bole and Peregrine Derrick (Who have some of the most ridiculous names he has ever heard) both get sorted into Slytherin. The girl who he had sat with (Who has a much more normal name that Dean has unfortunately forgotton) gets sorted into Ravenclaw like she expected and proudly walked to sit with a small group of girls that Dean could only assume were her older sisters.

"Novak, Castiel!"

Castiel shoots Dean a slightly panicked expression as he walks up stage and sits down. The hat is still a good three inches off Castiels head when it cried out "HUFFLEPUFF!" and Castiel goes to sit awkwardly at the yellow table, giving a slight shrug in Deans direction.

Several more first years get sorted before the hat finally calls out-

"Winchester, Dean!"

Dean sits down and as soon as the hat gets put on his head, he hears a distinct '_Interesting._'

"What the Hell?" He mutters as he realizes that the hat wasn't actually talking out loud, but was instead talking inside his head.

'_You have a great deal of courage- as much as any true Gryffindor. But even greater is your sense of loyalty, which makes you a better fit for-'_

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Dean flinches as the thing screams in his ear, and gets off the stage as quickly as he can. He sits next to Castiel, who is staring at him intently.  
"What?" He asks.

"I am glad that we were sorted together." The boy says with complete honesty. Dean is surprised to find that he agrees with the sentiment. Part of him wonders why he isn't more bothered by Castiel's intense strangeness, but he supposes that it might have something to do with the fact that Castiel was the only other student at this school who did not look like he wanted to be there.

After everyone had finally been sorted and seated, a man who looked a little like how Dean had always imagined Merlin looking walked up to the stage and started to speak.

"Greetings, to all our students- both old and new alike. I am Headmaster Dumbledore. Before we begin, I have a few announcements. First off, our caretaker Mr. Filtch has asked me to remind you that the rules have been put into place for a reason and he is growing tired of cleaning up all your messes. All first years should know that the Forbidden Forest is expressly forbidden. Also, unfortunately our professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Ableworth had a tragic accident in which a curse backfired and inflated his head to the size of a large pumpkin this past summer. I'm told that the healers expect him to make a full recovery, but I regret to inform you that he will not be returning to teach. With that in mind, I would like to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Gabriel Novak!"

Immediately, all traces of color drained from Castiels face, and he muttered something in what Dean was pretty sure wasn't English.

On the stage, the man from the wand shop took a bow, smiling at the sea of students before him. He looked at the Hufflepuff table and winked mischievously at Castiel, who was staring at the new teacher with an expression of absolute horror.

"With all that taken care of…" Dumbledore concluded. "Tuck in!"

Suddenly, giant platters of food appeared on the tables.

Dean blinked at the variety of dishes before him. He had to admit, this was a sort of magic he could get behind.

* * *

"So the new Defense teacher is your older brother? What's he like?" A fellow Hufflepuff first year asked Castiel on their way to the common room.

"He's a cosmic prankster who has recently dedicated his life to tormenting me for all eternity." Castiel replied in a complete deadpan.

Dean snorted in amusement, but no one else seemed to think it was funny.

Dean isn't sure that he finds it funny anymore either on the first day of class when it turns out that Castiel's description is actually frighteningly accurate.

"All right now class, who can tell me what the first thing you need to do when your facing a strange creature you've never seen before?"  
When no one else responded, Dean raised his hand. "Figure out what you're up against, and what it's weaknesses are so you know how to kill it."

Gabriel smirked. "A good first step. For example-" he waved his wand and suddenly three grey, vicious looking creatures that could almost be mistaken for cats if cats had far more teeth and were the size of donkeys appeared in front of the class, who promptly screamed in shock. "These are Mongolian Nundas. Now, they look like they can't be killed, but they are actually fairly vulnerable to fire. So if you happened to run across one, you would…"

"…Set it on fire." Dean responded.

"Of course not!" Gabriel shouted. "That would make it angry, and believe me, the last thing that you want is an angry Nunda, especially if it is also on fire. And why would you even want to try to kill it anyway? These things are harmless, provided you don't mess with their young." As if to prove his point, one of the creatures walked up to Gabriel, who started petting the thing.

"Well yeah, but I bet that if you ever ran into a real Nunda then they would be a lot less friendly then these illusions."

"Illusions? Who said anything about illusions? These ARE real"

Deans eyes bulged and Castiel rested his head in his hands. Everyone else in the class started screaming again.

Gabriel let them scream for a good minute before he finally vanished the monsters again with a flick of his wand.

"So…" He started, seemingly unaware of how much he had just traumatized his young students. "Did you all learn your lesson?"

"WHAT lesson?!" Dean shouted as some of the girls behind him devolved into quiet sobs.

"So you don't get it, then? Should I bring them back?"  
There was a resounding NO from the entire class.

* * *

To be continued-

Please review!


	4. Learning to Fly

**Dean Winchester and the Book of Dreams**

**Chapter 4: Learning to Fly**

* * *

"But I did the incantation perfectly." He mutters, staring at the stupid feather which is most definitely not levitating.

"Magic isn't only a matter of words and motions Mr. Winchester. It comes from inside you. You need to let it." Professor Flitwick calls from a few seats to his left.

Dean groans. If one more person tells him that he needs to 'believe' in the magic to make it work he is seriously going to start punching faces.

He looks over to Castiel, who managed to get the thing to float on his first try and is now staring at the floating feather somewhat forlornly as it floats in circles through the air. Castiel meets his gaze. "Try imagining flying." He suggests.

Dean looks back at the feather, closes his eyes, and then opens them again. He can't do it.

He doesn't like flying and he doesn't _want_ to believe in the goddamned magic.

* * *

_Dear Sam:_

_So I guess it's been a week. Thought I would let you guys know that I've made it to Hogwarts okay, so you can stop worrying. I got sorted into Hufflepuff but whatever. I'm also apparently a pretty terrible wizard. Classes suck mostly. I'm pretty terrible at charms and transfiguration apparently. Potions is okay, but the teacher is a real jerk. Defense Against the Dark Arts is a freaking nightmare. Professor Novak keeps bringing monsters to class to use for these bizarre ass demonstrations. I'm pretty sure that the dude has got to be certifiably insane. Whatever his deal is he probably should not be let around children. The weirdest thing is that he's not even my least favorite teacher because at least his classes are interesting. My history teacher is a ghost, and I'm pretty sure that he died by boring himself to death because I don't think that I've been able to stay awake for five consecutive minutes in his class yet. The dude seems to have taken a liking to Cas though, which really sucks for him because he's always getting stuck listening to extra lectures that no one in their right minds would ever care about ever. I kind of feel sorry for the guy. I mean if the ghost wasn't bad enough, Prof. Novak has been going to extreme lengths to embarrass him at every possible opportunity. Just yesterday, during lunch, he turned Cas's chicken into jello. Chicken flavored jello. Who does that? Anyway, I guess I'll write to you guys later._

_ Dean_

* * *

_Dear Dean:_

_I'm sure you'll get better at magic if you just practice._

_PS:  
Your house name sounds like a marshmallow._

_ Sam_

* * *

Dean crumpled Sam's reply in annoyance.

"We've got to do something about our houses reputation, man."

Castiel looks up at Dean from his book, confused by this sudden declaration. "What do you mean?"  
"What do I mean? Come on, every one else at this school has this idea that Hufflepuffs are all super nice and lovey dovey all the time, it's getting annoying. It's not our fault that our founders name sounds like a marshmallow."  
Castiel furrows his brow in confusion. "Hufflepuff and marshmallow sound nothing alike."

"That's not what I- ah, forget it, the point is that we need to do something to make the rest of the school realize that we can be awesome too. By the time this year is over, when people think of Hufflepuff, I want them to think of it as the 'house of badasses'. Or, you know, something manly."

Castiel nodded slowly. "I'll help however I can."

* * *

As it turns out, the two don't have to wait very long for an opportunity to present itself, when after Charms class Bole and Derrick, along with a large second year Slytherin named Marcus Flint who had some of the worst teeth that Dean has ever seen all corner Dean and Castiel in an empty hallway.

"So, Winchester, I heard that you can't work your magic. Must be all that Muggle blood running through your veins. You sure you even deserve to be here?"

Dean blinks. He isn't particularly angry at the implication that he did not belong at Hogwarts, since he views a normal, non-magical life as being preferable to all this witchy nonsense. But then again Flint had tried to insult Deans parents- failed, of course, but it was the principal of the matter.

"You hear me, Winchester?"  
"Yeah, I heard you, no need to yell." Dean muttered. "Mind letting us through? We've got another class, so…"

Flint and the others showed no inclination of moving out of the way.

"You sure you boys want to do this? Seems like last time we tangled I flipped you out of a train car."

"It's going to be different this time, idiot!" Bole shouted, brandishing his wand. "There are three of us, and we can use magic this time."

Castiel shot Dean a brief look before lifting his wand. "Wingardium Leviosa" He stated plainly and Bole suddenly was lifted off his feet and was sent crashing into Derrick.

Flint cursed and raised his wand at Castiel. "Petrificus Totalus!" Castiel suddenly froze before dropping to the ground, completely immobile.

Dean launched into action, quickly closing the distance between him and Flint, snatching the wand from his hand, and punching him in the face in one smooth motion. He doesn't think he's ever going to get tired of how laughably bad all these wizards are with basic hand to hand combat. But he supposes that's what happens when you rely on a wand to do all your work for you.

"Give me my wand back, first year." Flint says, practically steaming.

"Fix him." Dean says, motioning to Castiel's frozen body.

"Screw you."

"Don't make me break this thing." Dean warns, holding out Flint's wand.

"You wouldn't dare."  
"Try me."

Flint must have seen the truth behind the threat and looked down. "Fine."

Dean tossed him the wand, prepared to snatch it right back up again if Flint tried anything funny.

"Finite Incanatum." He muttered, and Castiel immediately sat up.

"Cas, you okay?"  
"I am fine, Dean." Castiel said, straitening himself.

Dean nods "All right. Good talk." He says, patting Flint on the back.

Flint, meanwhile is glaring at Dean like he is internally planning first degree murder.

Dean can't wait to see him try.

* * *

"You were pretty awesome back there, man. I mean, you only know one spell, and you managed to take out two guys with it. It's kind of making me realize that this magic thing might actually have its uses."

Castiel nodded. "You might want to dedicate yourself to learning what you can. Flint and his underlings will most likely come after you again, and next time I might not be there to assist you. And I doubt that you will be able to hold off three wizards with brute strength alone."  
Dean concedes that he has a point. "I know man, but I just can't do it. I mean, I'm trying, I really am now, but I just don't trust it."

"Because you don't understand how it works?"

"No, that's not it. It's just..."

"What?" Castiel looks at Dean with concern.

Dean looks at his new friend, unsure of how to explain. His fathers profession would no doubt be frowned upon in the wizarding community. And despite Castiels social awkwardness, he is the best friend that Dean has made here at Hogwarts- or ever, if Dean is perfectly honest with himself and he doesn't want to risk scaring him off by telling him that his dad hunts witches.

"It's just- I've had some experience with supernatural phenomenon before I came here and this sort of stuff can be dangerous. I've seen it rip people apart from the inside out, seen witches use their powers to toy with peoples lives just because they can. Everyone keeps telling me that this type of magic is different, but I- I'm having a tough time believing it. What if they're wrong? What if I end up hurting someone?"

"You won't."

"You don't know that. What happens if I actually learned how to use these weird powers and then go crazy or something? I could end up really hurting someone."

"Dean. You won't. It is not in your character to harm an innocent."

"Dude, you just met me three weeks ago. What makes you such an authority on my character?"

Castiel looks at the ground then, emotions that Dean cannot even begin to label boiling beneath his usually calm face.

"You are my friend." He says finally, as though he were stating one of the most obvious facts of the universe. He looks up, gaze becoming almost inhumanely intense. "You should have more faith in yourself. You are a good person, Dean. Even if you can't find it in you to have faith in anything else, have faith in that. I know I do."

Dean blinks. Coming from anyone else, a declaration like that would have sounded absolutely ridiculous. But Castiel said it with such conviction, it was impossible to deny that he absolutely believed his words. Dean had no idea what he did to gain so much trust from his classmate, and he doesn't know how to respond to the sudden declaration.

So instead, he does what he does best when faced with emotions that he doesn't know how to address, and changes the subject.

"Come on. Let's go get some dinner."

* * *

After classes the next day, Castiel pulled Dean aside for a makeshift study session.

"I think that I've got a solution to your magical roadblock."

"You're not going to tell me to clap my hands and believe, are you?"

"No, I doubt that would work with you. You have no faith in anything you can't see or touch. Combined with your reluctance to use magic, I think that this is the heart of your problem. So instead, you need to stop thinking of it as magic."

"Say what?"  
"Thinking of magic as a mystical energy that you need to access in order to perform spells isn't going to get you anywhere." Castiel said, setting his wand on the table. "Instead, you need to think of your wand as a multi-faceted tool or weapon, and each incantation unlocks a different feature of it."

"You think that will work?"

Castiel nods, and sets a feather on the table. "Give it a try."

Dean stares at the feather and pulls out his wand, unsure. Then again, what Castiel is saying actually makes a lot more sense to him then anything else he's heard so far, so he might as well _try_ it.

"Wingardium Leviosa."

And wouldn't you know it, the damn thing started floating. Not very high, and it only stayed in the air for a few seconds, but it _worked_.

Dean looks up. "How 'bout that."

* * *

"You've got to be kidding me." Dean muttered as he looked at the line of brooms. "There is no way that I'm getting on one of those things."

"It's perfectly safe." Castiel whispers to his right. "Apparently they've cast a charm that slows your fall over the field, so there shouldn't be any chance of critical injury."

"Oh, so I'll have more time to realize that I'm falling? That makes me feel so much better."  
"You're welcome."

"I was being sarcastic, Cas."

A familiar voice from the line of Slytherins suddenly called out "Sound's like someone's afraid."  
"Shut up, Bole." Dean hissed.

Madam Hooch coughed, and the murmured arguments between students suddenly stopped. "All right, class, try calling up your brooms like I showed you."

A chorus of ups ran through the line of students with almost universally pathetic results. The only person who was able to successfully call up his broom was a Hufflepuff to Dean's left.  
"Very good, Mr. Diggory! I'd say you can start trying to fly right away. Just remember to stay close to the ground for these first couple of lessons."  
"Yes Mam!" The first year exclaimed, and Dean had a hard time understanding how anyone in their right minds could be that enthusiastic about this.

"Up!" He heard Castiel say to his right, clearly displeased that the broom was not cooperating. "I command you to come up." The broom rolled slightly before resting on its side. Castiel growled in frustration, staring at the thing like he could somehow intimidate it into listening to him.

Dean's broom remained mercifully stationary no matter how many times he called it. He wondered if that meant he could sit this class out.

Meanwhile, Bole and Derricks had managed to get their brooms to come to them, and Dean laughed as that Diggory kid started literally flying laps around them.

"UP!" Castiel shouted, voice almost thunderous, and the broom flew into his hand, shaking. Dean couldn't help but give a small round of applause as his friend awkwardly mounted his broom.

"How are you doing, Cas?"

"This is… uncomfortable." Castiel replied, struggling to stay balanced. "And more difficult then I had imagined."

"Well keep it up anyway."  
Gradually, the other students began taking to the sky.

"Up."

Dean started as his broom suddenly flew into his hand. He stared at the thing in horror. How had that even happened? He had just been playing along so he wouldn't get in trouble. He hadn't wanted the thing to actually work!

He closed his eyes and muttered curses to himself, vowing to only go a few feet off the ground.

Castiel pulls up a few feet above him. "Dean. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this."

"Good for you."

"You are doing fine too, Dean. Do you want to try and come higher? Your feet are almost touching the ground."  
"I'm fine where I am, thank you."

Suddenly, Bole rushed past Castiel, almost knocking him off.

"Hey! Watch it, Bole!"

"What are you going to do about it, Winchester?" Bole taunts, as he flies headlong into a small pack of flying Hufflepuffs, purposefully bumping into as many of them as he can as he passes.

Well that does it. Bole has been pissing him off for weeks now, ever since he and Derrick had tried to sic that Neanderthal of a second year on him, but this was the final straw. It's time for some well deserved retaliation.

Dean takes to the sky.

Oddly enough, his unspoken fear of heights does not bother him nearly as much it usually does when he gets himself into a midair fistfight. And when Madam Hooch finally breaks the fight up, Dean is satisfied to see that while he emerged from the fight relatively unharmed, Bole is now suffering from a black eye and a bloodied nose. He decides that whatever detention he gets assigned will be totally worth it. Though he suspects that his housemates, peaceable Hufflepuffs that they were, might be a tad upset about the loss of points.

"Winchester!" He hears Cedric Diggory call as he is being escorted off the pitch by an irate Madam Hooch. "That was awesome!"

...Or maybe not.

* * *

To be continued...

Please review!


	5. White Rabbit

Dean Winchester and the Book of Dreams

Chapter 5: White Rabbit

* * *

The Hufflepuff common room buzzed with activity. Apparently, Bole and Derrick had run afoul of the entirety of the Hufflepuff house when they had cursed a quiet and nervous first year named Reginald Bachman for no reason, and everyone was glad to see them taken down a peg.

Cedric Diggory sat himself in between Dean and Castiel, smiling widely.

"That was seriously one of the best things that I've seen in a while. Are you going to try out for Quidditch?"

"What the heck is Quidditch?" Dean asked.

Cedric looked visibly offended by the question. "It's only the best sport ever. How can you not have heard of it?"

"Raised by Muggles, remember?"

"Oh, right. Well, it's a wizard sport that's played on broomsticks. You can't try out until your second year, but I'm going to try out for the seeker position once I'm old enough. You should try out to; I think that you would make a really good Beater."

"I don't think that I want to join the Quidditch team."

Cedric pouts dramatically. "What about you, Castiel? You seemed like you were pretty comfortable in the air. You could try out for Chaser or something."

"…I don't understand what that is."

Cedric gaped before launching into a long, overly complicated explanation of the game. As he went on, both Dean and Castiel became more and more confused. By the end of it, Dean was convinced that Quidditch was the most needlessly complicated game ever conceived.

"So are you going to join? You should join."

"I will think about it."

That seemed to be good enough for Cedric. As soon as he was gone, the two shared a look.

"Did you understand any of what he just said?" Castiel asked, looking incredibly confused.

"Not at all." Dean admits, breaking into a smile.

* * *

"All right class, we have a very special lesson today."

The entire class visibly shrunk back in their seats. After all, a normal lesson in Professor Novak's class was frightening enough, and they could only imagine that a 'special' lesson would be flat out life-threatening.

"Oh relax. Honestly, you all are so distrusting."  
"Only because you keep summoning monsters into the classroom." Dean glares.

"All right, no monsters today, I promise."  
The classroom eyed the professor suspiciously, who smiled under their scrutiny.

"I get the feeling that we need to have a group trust exercise. Castiel, could you come up in front of the class for a minute?"

Castiel glared, but complied with his brothers' demand.

"How many spells do you know that might be useful in a fight, Castiel?"

Castiel looked down, thinking. "Five."

"And how useful would any of them be against me?"

"I doubt that any of them would have any affect against you at all." Castiel glared.

"Right you are! So you see class, if I wanted to actually hurt you, then I would, and there's nothing you or any of the other teachers could do to stop me. But fortunately for you, I don't. So you're all safe. If you weren't, then believe me, you would know about it by now."

The class fell into an uncomfortable silence. If that little speech had been intended to make them feel better then it had failed spectacularly.

* * *

It was no great overstatement to say that this whole situation was entirely Gabriel's fault. Castiel just wished that he could figure out what the archangel's endgame was, but he could not make any of the pieces make any sort of sense. That Gabriel had stripped him of his grace came as no great surprise to Castiel, considering what he had done in the previous version of history, but why Gabriel had decided to trap Castiel in the body of a child, Castiel had no idea. He supposed that Gabriel might be trying to humiliate him further, but since Castiel did not place all too much importance on the physical form, his newly diminished stature did not bother him all that much.

And then, of course, there was the fact that he was now attending a magic school in England that he was certain had not existed in the previous reality. After Gabriel's first chaotic class, Castiel had given in and flat out asked Gabriel what he was playing at and what purpose this overly elaborate set up served, but the archangel had only laughed uproariously at his questions and said that Castiel 'needed to read more'. Castiel doesn't understand how reading anything was supposed to help him make sense of this situation, but he spends a great deal of his free time in the library anyway, systematically reading all the books. He has made it all the way to the 'R's, and so far he has found nothing helpful at all.

He wouldn't worry about it nearly as much if Gabriel had not dragged the young Dean Winchester into the mix as well. Castiel was willing to accept whatever punishment Gabriel inflicted upon him, but the idea that Dean might somehow be hurt because of his mistakes was unbearable, especially with Dean now so young, so innocent, and finally free from so many of the mental and emotional scars he had been unfairly forced to bear.

Castiel knew that he couldn't protect him, not like this. He was practically powerless now, no stronger then the average first year Hogwarts student. Constant vigilance was the only way that he had to make sure Dean remained safe.

There was no way, of course, that he could explain any of this to Dean.

"Dude, can you back off? Haven't you ever heard of personal space?"  
"Of course I have."

"Well could you maybe try respecting mine? At least a little bit?"

Castiel shifts backwards. "I apologize."

Dean was serving his detention cleaning an unused storeroom in the east hall. Filch hadn't minded that Castiel had tagged along, only saying that if they cleaned the room too fast they would have to clean another before wondering off to clean some mess that Peeves had made in the Great Hall.

Castiel surveyed the room again. As far as he could tell nothing inside it was even remotely dangerous, but it could never hurt to be cautious.

That's when he saw it.

On the far left wall, beside the shelf of magical knickknacks that Castiel couldn't begin to name there was a slight disruption in the pattern of the wood grain, as through two separate pieces of wood had been magically fused together. He walked closer, examining it. He traced the disruption from the floor upwards for about three feet, where it then turned at a ninety degree angle and continued horizontally for another three feet before turning again and heading back to the floor, forming a perfect square. Castiel leaned against a nearby statue of an overweight wizard. If he didn't know better, he would almost think that-

Suddenly, the square pulled backwards, revealing a dark tunnel in the wall.

"Whoa!" Dean exclaimed from across the room. Castiel jumped away from the statue and the wall closed shut. Cautiously, he placed a hand on the statue, and the passage opened again.

Dean had quite suddenly forgotten all about the items he was supposed to be cleaning and leaned into the hole. "Where do you think this thing goes?"

"I don't know."

Dean looks up, barely contained excitement glowing in his eyes. "Want to go see?"  
Castiel knows that this is a bad idea, that this will somehow lead to some kind of dangerous or possibly even life threatening situation, and that he really should just say no.

"Sure."  
But then again, when has he ever been able to say no to Dean?

* * *

After five minutes of crawling further into the hole, the passage suddenly widened and they found themselves in a small room. There were no other doors other then the small passageway that they had crawled through, and the air was heavy with the smell of dirt. The room was almost entirely empty, apart from a single heavy wooden table placed exactly in the middle of the room, on top of which rested a thick book.

"That's it?" Dean muttered, feeling somewhat disappointed. Weren't secret passages supposed to lead somewhere cool?"

Castiel shrugged, and the two walked over to examine the book.

"What's so special about this thing anyway?" Dean asks, fingers briefly touching its spine before he suddenly collapses.

'Dean!" Castiel shouts, panicked.

* * *

Dean blinks. He is in a motel room, one that smells of sweat and dirt and cheap air fresheners, a unique blend of aromas that he hadn't realized that he missed until now.

It smelled like home.

He blinks again, and suddenly he's in the backseat of his dad's Impala. His dad is driving, laughing as he tells the story of a successful hunt. Sam is at his side, smiling slightly as he reads a torn up paperback.

The three of them go on a hunt together, and he and Sam manage to save their dads life by burning the remains of a particularly vengeful spirit.

And then suddenly the vision is gone, and Dean is staring at the blank ceiling of the secret room, head throbbing painfully. He blinks, disoriented.

"Dean? Dean! Are you okay? You collapsed-"

"Yeah." Dean groans, pulling himself from the floor. "How long was I out?"

"Just a few seconds. What happened?"  
"Is that all? It felt like a couple of minutes at least."

"Dean. What happened?"

"I don't know, man. I was in some kind of illusion or dream or something. It felt almost like a memory except that I don't remember that hunt…" Dean said, rubbing his head. "What is this book?"

Castiel's brow furrowed. "I don't know." There was something in his expression that Dean didn't like- a deep sort of worry.

"Yeah… Yeah, we probably should go." He said finally, head spinning.

* * *

That night, Castiel stared at the bottom of the bunk above him for two hours after lights out. Even though in this weakened form he needed sleep, he knew he would not be able to tonight. Not when he had a nagging suspicion of what that book truly was. He needed to know for sure.

Once he was sure that everyone else in the Hufflepuff dorm was asleep, he snuck out of the common room and back to the small, hidden room. He had a close call when one of the ghosts almost spotted him, but fortunately was able to make it without incident.

He placed a hand on the book and let the images and sensations wash over him.

After what felt like hours but was probably closer to minutes, he stumbled back, head spinning.

"You know what they say about curiosity killing the cat, Castiel."

Castiel turned, careful not to let his surprise at the fact that he was no longer alone in the room show.

Gabriel tapped a finger against his chin thoughtfully. "But then again, knowing you, you might actually have no idea about curiosity killing the cat."  
"I am familiar with that expression, Gabriel."

"Really?" Gabriel said in mock surprise. "Then you should know that poking at this will not lead anywhere good."

Castiel glared at his older brother. "Gabriel. Why do you have a record of the Winchester Gospels hidden in a secret room at Hogwarts?"

Gabriel shrugged casually. "I figured that there should be a record of what happened somewhere."

"Why?"  
"What can I say? I'm a historian."

"There's no way that is the only reason."  
"Okay, you got me, I was going to adapt it into a TV show, sue me!"

Castiel glowered. "Don't turn this into a joke, Gabriel."

Gabriel snorted. "Uh, hello? Have you forgotten who you're talking to? Joking is pretty much all that I do."

"You're planning something, Gabriel, you and I both know it. I know what I did, and I know that you plan to punish me somehow for it. Striping me of my grace was not enough, not after what I did, and this place- I enjoy it here, Gabriel. I know that it's all going to go wrong somehow, that this is all an elaborate set up to some cruel joke. I've accepted that, but I wish you would just get to the point and get it over with."

Gabriel gave a sudden groan of frustration. "You really don't get it at all, do you Castiel? Honestly, I can see why the Winchesters like you so much. The three of you can be so thick that it's not even funny. Look, I don't know how much more obvious I can make this."

Castiel glared at his brother in frustration. Nothing was obvious, as far as he was concerned. He wonders if this is what Dean meant when he complained about angels speaking cryptically. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that this isn't a punishment, Castiel. It never was. I'm trying to give you a second chance here."

"You expect me to believe that? That after all that I did, I am simply forgiven?"

"Well, no, not forgiven. I may be an angel but I'm not a saint. But I'm not going to punish you for it."  
"Why not?"  
"Well, technically, none of that ever happened. I can't very well punish someone for something that never happened, can I?"

Castiel did not look convinced.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Castiel, despite everything, you're still family. I might not forgive you for what happened and I'm definitely going to tease you mercilessly because of it, but I'm not going to try and punish you for it. Especially when you're already so repentant about the whole thing- I mean, where's the fun in that? Can't you just think of loosing your angel privileges as punishment and forget about it?"

Castiel frowned, falling deep into thought. Gabriel could see that it would take a lot more then words to convince him and sighed.

"Now go back to your Common Room before I start docking house points for being out after hours." Gabriel said before suddenly vanishing with a flap of invisible wings, leaving Castiel to sneak back to the Hufflepuff dormitories on his own.

* * *

To be continued-

Please review!


	6. Cat Scratch Fever

Dean Winchester and the Book of Dreams

Chapter 6:

Cat Scratch Fever

* * *

_Dear Dean-_

_ How's school? Have you learned anything yet?_

_I thought that I should let you know that I'm buying a house. Figured that you and Sam ought to have a more permanent home. Still have a lot of paperwork but everything should be settled soon. I put some pictures in the envelope- let me know what you think. Sam misses you a lot, but he's doing pretty well._

_Any big plans for Halloween? I bet that the wizarding community really celebrates that holiday with style._

_ Bobby_

* * *

_Dear Bobby-_

_ The house looks fine. How are you getting the money to pay for all this stuff anyway? Hope it's not anything too illegal. School is going better then I expected. I'm starting to get the hang of this whole magic thing. Yesterday I managed to transfigure a toothpick into a sewing needle. I mean, I don't know how that is ever going to be useful ever but it beats doing math problems. I'm pretty sure there's going to be a big Halloween feast. I'm looking forward to it. Food here is awesome._

_ Dean_

* * *

"Halloween is more enjoyable then I expected." Castiel said, admiring the floating decorations in the Great Hall.

"What do you mean? Haven't you ever celebrated Halloween before? Man, I thought that my childhood was weird."

"My family does not celebrate holidays."

"Really? Because your big brother seems really into it." Dean says. As if on cue, Gabriel appears in a flash of lightning above the students, driving a chariot of bats, laughing maniacally at their shocked and terrified screams.

"Gabriel is… somewhat unusual. The majority of my family is rather serious."

"Thank God for that. Can you imagine if there were _more_ of him?"  
Castiel suppresses a shudder at the thought. "The world would most likely not survive."

Dean would laugh, except that he's not entirely sure that Castiel is not joking.

The doors of the Great Hall suddenly burst open and a stricken looking McGonagall strode over to whisper something in Dumbledore's ear. The hall became unnaturally as his expression became serious and even Gabriel began looking somewhat concerned.

Dumbledore stood, addressing the students. "I regret to inform you all that there has been an attack on Hogwarts grounds. A third year student was returning to the castle from the Quidditch pitch when he was attacked by a large creature of some kind. I'm told that the injuries are severe and I'm afraid that I must ask all students to return to their common rooms until we learn more about the nature of this attack."

The students turned to each other, buzzing with speculation and worry. The festive atmosphere had disappeared quite suddenly with the news of this sudden attack.

* * *

Later, in the Common Room, a large group of Hufflepuffs of all ages began whispering theories to each other.

"Do you think it was something from the Forbidden Forest?"  
"Well of course, what else could it be, but what was it doing so close to the castle? He was closer to the lake then the Forest."

"Maybe it was a sea monster?"  
"Don't be ridiculous, they said it was claw marks. What kind of fish has claws?"

"It was probably one of Professor Novaks 'lessons' that got loose some how." An older housemate said, and the entire room became suddenly quiet as Castiel looked up from the book he had been reading.

"My brother would never do such a thing." He said, serious.

"I'm not saying that he sent some monster to attack a student on purpose, but accidents do happen. And it isn't like there are any better explanations."

Castiels eyes narrowed, and Dean could see that his friend was not about to accept that explanation, so he grabbed the sleeve of Castiels robe and pulled him away from the group and into the dormitories.

"I don't like the implication that my brother was somehow involved, Dean." He said as the door swung shut behind them.

"They're just throwing ideas around, they don't mean anything by it. Besides, I thought you didn't even like your brother."  
Castiel looked at Dean quizzically. "I have a great deal of respect for Gabriel, and I owe him much."

"All right, you don't want anyone bad mouthing your family, I get it, but getting into an argument isn't going to fix anything."

"Well then what should I do?"

Dean shrugged. "You got me there. Try not to let it bother you, I guess."

Castiel couldn't help but let it bother him though, because even though he could not bring himself to believe Gabriel when he said that he did not plan to punish Castiel for his wrongdoings, the archangel was singlehandedly responsible for preventing the apocalypse from ever happening and averting countless deaths.

And while Gabriel could certainly be cruel to his chosen victims, he had a strong sense of justice, and would never allow one of his creatures to harm a child.

The other students were not inclined to give the Defense teacher the benefit of the doubt, however.

The Hufflepuffs and most of the Ravenclaws aren't too bad- The Hufflepuffs avoid talking about it for Castiels sake and the Ravenclaws are so logical minded that they wanted more proof before they accused anyone of anything.

The Slytherins were by far the worst. Once they figured out that the rumor bothered Castiel, Bole and Derrick had not only gone out of their way to spread it as far as they could, but brought it up at every possible opportunity. Castiel tries not to let it bother him. He reminds himself that they are just children while he is, or rather was, an angel of the Lord, and that he is above responding to schoolyard bullying.

After the two compose a truly awful and off-key song about how the Professor needs to get sacked and sing it at him every time they pass in the hallway, Castiel becomes convinced that had he had access to his powers, he would have smote the two already.

* * *

Dean, meanwhile, had begun worrying about something else.

Part of him did know what needed to be done, the part that had practiced shooting targets for as long as he could remember, or that had studied exorcisms instead of math problems. Out there, just beyond the castle walls, there was a monster. A monster that was attacking his fellow students. And regardless of what it was or how it got there, it needed to be hunted.

The only question was how.

Dean had accompanied his dad on a few hunts before, of course, but there was a difference between watching something done and doing it yourself. And more often than not, it had been his job to watch over Sam while his dad left for days on end to hunt the monsters. And the firearms training that he did have would be entirely useless as there was no way that he could get access to a gun. And even if he could get one, he wasn't sure if he had the skill or experience necessary to take down… whatever it was that needed taking down.

Maybe he shouldn't go chasing after it, and leave it to someone who knew what they were doing.

He inhaled. He had never had that sort of doubt about a hunt before. Hunting was his job, it was who he _was_, and that hadn't changed because he was now attending a wizarding school. He had just let himself forget, because he had spent so much time away from his dad. He had started to believe that he could be something else, and now he was about to just leave some dangerous creature to its own devices.

_If I could just talk to dad again…_

He blinked as an idea began forming. His real dad would not speak to him, of course, but there was that book he had stumbled upon a few weeks ago. It might not be real, but it would give him the motivation he needed to do his job.

The next day, once the days classes were over he snuck away from the group when no one was looking and found his way back to the secret room.

He only felt a small twinge of hesitation before he put his hand on the book and let the real world dissolve around him.

* * *

The gunshots ran out in quick succession and each one of the makeshift targets fell to the ground. Dean could feel his father radiate pride behind him and he basked in it.

"I think you're ready for a real hunt."

"Really?" Dean asked, excitement mixing with disbelief.

"You need to face real combat sooner or later. If something happens to me, then you'll need to pick up where I left off, you understand?"

"Nothings going to happen to you, Dad. You're like, the greatest."

His father smiled then, actually smiled, for the first time in what felt like years and Dean couldn't help but smile back. They would become a team, the two of them, and they would hunt down all the monsters in the world so that no one was ever killed the way his mom was. Sam would come too, once he was old enough. The three of them would travel the country together and save people as a family.

* * *

Dean fell back, blinking as he readjusted to reality. The book had been just as realistic as the first time, maybe even more so. It had felt almost real- except Dean knew he was still years away from being ready to take on a real hunt. But seeing it, it felt almost like the book was trying to give him a message.

He may be a wizard, but he was still a hunter. And right now, there was a dangerous creature of some kind attacking the students. He needed to take care of it.

He was ready, he had to be.

* * *

"There you are, Dean- I was looking for you."

"What? What for?" Dean jumped at Castiels question as he entered the Hufflepuff common room.

"I was just wondering where you were- I turned around and you were gone. I was worried."

Dean laughed nervously. Of course his friend would be worried when he suddenly disappeared with out explanation the day after a savage animal attack. He knew he couldn't tell him that he was planning on tracking the thing down, he would think he was crazy. And it would lead to too many questions that Dean couldn't answer without revealing his fathers profession.

"Oh, I just went to the library."

Castiel blinked, becoming instantly suspicious. Dean mentally swears, realizing that he should have come up with a more believable lie.

"You weren't reading that book again, were you?"  
Dean sees no reason to lie about this. "Yeah, ok I did. You should give the thing a try, it's way better then TV. I think the things been enchanted to show you scenes from your own life only better. Like what could have been if things had happened differently. I see things that could have happened if I hadn't turned out to be a wizard."

"I thought that you had begun accepting your powers."

"I have, it's just…" Dean struggled to find some way of explaining it. "My dad is… He is pretty against this magic stuff, and when he found out what I could do- he kind of kicked me out."

Castiel looked at the ground. Privately, he believed that had John Winchester been given the chance, he would have accepted his sons regardless of any magical abilities, and part of him wanted nothing more then to assure Dean that the person who had so thoroughly rejected him had in fact been a reality warping archangel using John Winchesters voice. But of course, he could not.

Instead he said nothing.

"The book gives me a way to talk to him again." Dean says softly, and Castiel feels a deep sort of panic settle into him as he realizes that Dean sneaking off to use the book might just become a regular occurrence. It wouldn't be a problem right away, but the more often Dean got a glance at the world that could have been the greater the chances were that he would see something… unpleasant. There were far too many painful memories inside that book, memories that, as far as Castiel was concerned, this version of Dean need never have.

"Dean, I don't think you should use that book anymore."

Dean became defensive. "Why not? I know it's not real. I'm not an idiot."

Castiel looked up, grasping for an explanation that didn't exist. As far as Dean knew, the two of them had simply stumbled upon a mildly psychic, enchanted book- an assumption that was far more believable then the fact that it was a recorded history of an alternate reality, created by a runaway archangel who was pretending to be a trickster that was pretending to be a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Which left him with the 'because I said so' argument, an argument that he knew would never work with Dean.

So instead he muttered something about having a bad feeling about the thing, as if that was going to do any good.

He was going to have to keep a closer eye on Dean if he wanted to spare him from experiencing hell a second time.

* * *

To be continued…

Please review!


	7. Strange Brew

AN: Ok, so apparently I've screwed up the HP timeline by having Dean and Cedric being in the same year, but don't worry, I've already thought of a way around that. But to prevent any further mistakes like this, I want to ask those of you who remember it better then me- How old are the Weasley children in relation to each other? Any info would be much appreciated.

Thanks for all your reviews, and I hope you are all enjoying this fic as much as I am.

With that out of the way, let's get to the next chapter!

**Dean Winchester and the Book of Dreams**

**Chapter 7: Strange Brew**

* * *

Dean knew enough to know that the first thing you did on any hunt was question any witnesses or survivors- there was no quicker way to get killed other than going in without knowing what you were up against. Fortunately for him, there was a first hand witness just lying in the hospital wing.

Unfortunately for him, however, Madam Pomfrey ran a very tight ship, and wasn't about to let just any curious student in to question her patient. After seven unsuccessful tries to convince her to let him in, Dean became convinced that he would have to take more drastic action. Since Dean didn't think that he could sneak into the hospital wing unnoticed, the only option that was left to him was getting admitted himself. Which was all well and good in theory, but in practice was less then ideal. Dean was certainly no fan of pain, and he would have to get himself hurt pretty badly in order to require overnight hospitalization.

Eventually, he decided to go with a potions mishap, since he was pretty sure that he understood the subject well enough to not accidentally kill himself. Professor Snape had them working on Wiggenweld Potions, and Dean knew that adding too much Asphodel root would lead to an outbreak of relatively painless boils that would nonetheless take a while to heal. (He had seen this first hand when a fellow student had suffered from the same problem, and had to be hospitalized for two days.) When Snape had his attention diverted elsewhere, Dean casually dumped his entire container of the root into the cauldron and stirred vigorously until the color change was no longer noticeable. When it was time to test the potions at the end of the class, Dean felt its effects almost immediately.

He doubled over, not having to fake his pain in the slightest, and Snape became lived, yelling that it should be impossible to screw up such a simple potion that horribly before ordering another student to take him to the hospital wing.

All right- he thought- step one down.

Now all he had to do was somehow convince the victim to talk to him about what happened. Hopefully that could be accomplished with minimal injury.

* * *

"What on earth happened here?" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed as soon as the doors swung open.

"Potions mishap." Dean said before dissolving into a fit of coughs. This was hurting way more then it was supposed to.

"Well, lets hurry up and get you to a bed." The healer said, ushering him through the doors.

Dean groaned as he laid down- the pain was only growing and he was beginning to thing that he had severely misjudged the dosage of the Asphodel root. Madam Pomfrey shoved a foul tasting potion down his throat, and told him to lie still until it started working.

Dean surveyed the Hospital wing. There were three other patients other then him- a Ravenclaw who was here after being hit by a particularly enthusiastic bludger during a quidditch match, a Slytherin who had had a transmogrification spell backfire on her and had turned into some kind of human-rat hybrid, and the one who he had come to see- the third year Gryffindor who had been attacked by a mysterious creature on Hogwarts grounds.

He could see immediately that Dumbledore had greatly understated the seriousness of the boys condition. As far as Dean could tell, the third year was likely to be permanently disfigured, but then again, magical medicine could apparently do pretty miraculous things. The scars ran in sets of four parallel gashes- and judging from their size, the creatures claws had to be two feet across at least, and the poor boy was completely covered in them.

"Looks pretty painful." Dean began conversationally.

The third years eyes slid over to Dean. "Yeah, well you don't look too hot yourself." He muttered angrily.

Dean shrugged, trying to dissolve the tension. "I don't know, I hear that boils are in this year. The worst part was Snape blowing a gasket." He looked over to the upperclassman and gave a smile. "So is it true that you got attacked by a Yeti?"

"A what?"

"A Yeti- you know, like the abominable snowman. A bunch of other students think that's what happened." A lie, of course.

"It wasn't a freaking Yeti!" The older student exclaimed.

"Well then what was it?"

"I don't know, it was like that big cat thing from Professor Novaks class."  
"You mean a Nunda?"

"Yeah, except it was huge, like ten feet tall at least. And it just showed up out of nowhere and attacked me."  
"Why?"

"It's a gigantic vicious beast, I don't think there was a reason for it!" He yelled, getting suddenly angry. "Leave me alone, this isn't any of your business anyway!"

Dean nodded, mentally going through the new information. Now he knew what he was up against, and, thanks to his Defense class, he knew how to fight it. The only thing left to do was figure out how to find the thing.

And he was now officially out of ideas.

* * *

"I see that the swelling has gone down."  
Dean looked up at the unexpected voice. "Cas? What are you doing here?"

"I brought your charms homework." He said, holding out a roll of parchment.

"Gee, thanks." Dean muttered sarcastically.

"Your welcome." Castiel said, smiling slightly. "How are you feeling?"

"Bored." Dean admitted. "I hate being stuck here. I didn't think it would take so long."

"I spoke with Madam Pomfrey. She is convinced that you will be able to leave in a few more days."

"Days? I can't wait that long!"

Castiel blinked. "I was unaware that you had such a strong desire to return to classes."

"Yeah…" Dean said, privately thinking that returning to classes was the last thing on his mind. After all, there was apparently a vicious, ten foot tall Nunda on the loose. He needed to be out there doing something about it, not sitting uselessly in the Hospital wing.

"Hey, Cas- do you think you could stop by the library and get me some books about magical creatures?"

"Why?" Castiel asks, and Dean wonders how it is that Castiel is always able to tell when he's up to something.

"I'm bored- I need something to read besides homework if I'm going to be stuck here for too much longer."

"I'll see what I can find."

"Check if there are any books about Nundas." He calls as Castiel begins to leave. Castiel looks a bit confused at the request but nods again regardless and within the hour, Dean has a small stack of books on loan from the library, three of which are about Nundas.

"May I ask why the sudden interest in Nundas?"

"No reason, I just thought they looked cool." Dean lies.

Castiels eyes suddenly narrow, and he looks from the stack of books to the scarred third year and then back again.

He leans in and gives a low whisper. "Dean. Are you planning on going after the creature that attacked that boy?"

Dean feels a flash of panic as he realizes that he's been found out. "Look, Cas, I know it sounds crazy, but I actually know what I'm doing. My dad hunted things like this, and he taught me how to do it too,"  
"Dean, killing that creature is not your responsibility."

"I know, but I can't just leave it, can I? Someone else could get hurt. I've got to do something."  
"Then I'm coming with you."  
Dean blinked. "Dude, you didn't even want to mess with that enchanted book, and now you want to help me track down a ten foot tall monster cat?"

"Yes." Castiel said simply, and Dean wonders if he's ever going to figure out how his friends head works.

* * *

All the lore agreed that the best way to kill a Nunda was with fire. The problem was getting enough fire to do some real damage and not just piss the thing off. No matter how hard he tried, the Incendio spell only conjured up a small flame- he knew that it was possible to summon a much larger fire, but only in the hands of a much more experienced wizard.

"This would be so much easier if we had a flamethrower."

"Dean, I doubt that you will be able to acquire a flamethrower in this school."  
"I know that, I'm not stupid." Dean grumbled.

Castiel fell into deep thought. "Perhaps we could transfigure the components and assemble it ourselves."

"That's actually a pretty good idea. Do you think you could do that?"  
"It's the best option. Do you know what we need?"

"I have a good idea of how to do it. Give me a piece of paper, I need to write this down."

They had gotten through most of the steps when the doors burst open, and a sudden bustle of activity made them both look up.

"What's going on?" He heard Madam Pomfrey ask before suddenly gasping. Dean sat up, trying to get a better view on what was happening.

"Another attack, I'm afraid." Dumbledore said as a new patient was carried onto a bed. From what he could see, it didn't look as if there were as many wounds as on the first victim, but the wounds that were there were deep and freshly bleeding.

Before they could really grasp what was happening, a curtain was drawn around the bed and Castiel was being dragged out of the Hospital Wing by one of Madam Pomfreys assistants. He shot Dean a concerned look as the doors swung shut behind him.

Dean cursed. They would need to do something about this thing, and fast.

* * *

To be continued-

Reviews are much appreciated!


	8. Into the Jungle

Sorry about missing last weeks update, I think the update schedule might get a bit more erratic from now on, but I'm still going to aim for once a week.

To all my reviewers- Thanks everyone for all your wonderful and helpful comments. If I didn't reply to you individually, just know that I appreciate each and every one of you. Please keep asking me questions, they give me ideas. And point out any errors you see- even if I am taking a few creative liberties here and there, I'm trying to be cannon-compliant whenever possible.

With that out of the way, let's get started with the next chapter!

**Dean Winchester and the Book of Dreams**

**Chapter 8: Into the Jungle**

* * *

Once Dean was finally released from the Hospital wing, he and Castiel went to work on building the flamethrower, using the secret room that they had found to do all the assembling. The task was much simpler in theory then in practice. As it turned out, understanding the basic mechanics wasn't quite the same as knowing how to build one from the ground up, and Dean and Castiel had numerous unsuccessful and nearly disastrous attempts. The whole process ended up taking much longer then either of them would have liked, and they found themselves edging dangerously close to winter break before they were finally ready.

Fortunately, there hadn't been another attack since then, but the entire student body was on high alert regardless. The two victims had apparently been friends, causing all kinds of crazy rumors that the attacks were premeditated somehow, targeted. A few students dared to hope that this would be the end of it. Dean knew better. The thing may have retreated back into the forest, but it was still out there and it would be back one day.

* * *

The Forbidden Forest was large, and dark, and all the things that most children are told to stay away from. Dean, however, is not like most children, and walks into the forest not with fear but with something more akin to excitement.

"Do we have any plans on how to find the Nunda?"  
We. Dean still couldn't get over the fact that Castiel had volunteered himself to this hunt without so much as a second thought. Not once did he suggest that they leave the matter to the adults, or that Dean's plan to hunt down a gigantic cat-creature was poorly thought out and dangerous (which it was). Instead, he had just thrown himself into the hunt with a grim determination that was usually beyond most kids their age. Dean privately thinks that had Castiel not been born a wizard, he might have one day made a pretty good hunter. A deeper part of Dean hopes that despite their magical abilities, the two of them might end up becoming hunters anyway. Using their powers for good and all that. If he was able to do that, then maybe one day his dad would accept-

Dean blinks, terminating that train of thought and shoving it roughly back into whatever unwelcome part of his subconscious that it had crawled out from.

"What's the matter?" Castiel is staring at him, and Dean thinks that it's really almost sort of creepy how the dude can always tell that there's something weird going on in his head.

"Nothing." Dean says anyway. "What were you saying?"  
"What are your plans on finding the Nunda?"

"Well I was thinking that anything that big would have to leave a pretty obvious trail, right? We could follow it from the edge of the forest back to the things nest."  
Castiel shoots him a look, clearly thinking that Deans plan is not well thought out, but mutters something about how if anyone had the luck to stumble upon a nest of vicious Nundas, it would be Dean.

Dean gives a tilted smile. "You chickening out? I can always go alone."  
Castiel glares as though offended by the mere suggestion, and the two head into the looming forest without another word.

The sky disappears behind the canopy of trees and soon they are unable to see Hogwarts behind them. Dean pauses every once in a while to examine nearby animal tracks and Castiel has taken to glaring at the forest as though he could somehow intimidate it into giving them the Nundas location.

Eventually, they stumble upon a fallen tree with four deep gashes running along its side.

"Gotcha." Dean grins, peering deeper into the forest. "Looks like it came from this way."

Castiel nods, and the two walk further into the dark forest.

* * *

"I think I see it." Dean whispers, pointing to a small clearing. Castiel narrows his eyes. Sure enough, up ahead there was a large Nunda sleeping beneath a massive pine tree. It wasn't quite as big as the victim described, but was far larger then the donkey-sized ones that had appeared in Professor Novak's class.

'What's the plan?" Castiel whispered.

Dean is distressingly silent.

"You don't have a plan, do you?"

"Not really. Dean admits.

Castiel groans in frustration.

"Look, I'm pretty sure that this will work."  
"Dean, we are essentially going up against the magical worlds equivalent of a wild tiger, I think we need to be more then 'pretty sure'."

"Really pretty sure. We lucked out and caught the thing when it was sleeping and even if it was awake, it isn't going to be expecting a flamethrower. We're catching it by surprise, all right? We can take this thing."

Castiel sighs, mentally wondering how Dean ever managed to survive into adulthood.

"Are we in range?"  
"Hold on, I think I need to get a little closer."

"Of course you do."

Dean inched forward, eyes fixed on the massive sleeping cat, readying the homemade flamethrower. Castiel followed close behind, each moment expecting something to go horribly wrong. He clenched a hand on Deans shoulder when he saw the Nunda's ears briefly twitch in their direction, fearing that it had heard their approach, but the creature merely settled deeper into its sleep.

"Chill." Dean whispered, pulling his arm away. He crouched behind an outcropping of rock, finally feeling that they were close enough.

"All right." Dean grinned, holding up the flamethrower. "Here goes nothing."

* * *

Castiel had seen flamethrowers in action before. He had been a silent, invisible witness to almost every war in human history, and had even seen Dean wield one against a particularly nasty creature a few times in the previous version of reality. He was convinced that he had a pretty good idea of what to expect.

It was only when Dean falls backwards, flames angling up and igniting a line of trees behind the Nunda that he realizes what, logically speaking, he should have known the whole time. Dean, the Dean that was now in front of him was not the same person as the Dean he had come to know almost better than he knew himself. This Dean was eleven years old and had never used a flamethrower before, had probably never seen one outside of in movies, and he had been totally unprepared for the strength and intensity of the flames. This Dean was not a hunter, not yet, and Castiel had brought him face to face with a dangerous creature and given him a dangerous weapon and had somehow expected everything to be fine.

The Nunda had startled awake to find itself surrounded by fire and panics, running away from the flames behind it- and directly towards Dean and Castiel. Dean lets out a series of panicked curses as he tries to regain control of the flamethrower. With no time to think, Castiel runs to Dean's side and straightens his aim so that the jet of fire shoots directly towards the rapidly approaching Nunda. The creature pulls back almost instantly, but it is too late, it has already been engulfed in the flames, and it lets out an agonizing scream.

It didn't die right away- it thrashed upon the ground, trying in vain to extinguish the flames for almost a full minute. The air was thick with smoke and the smell of burning meat and pained screams before the creature finally became mercifully silent. A small part of Castiel thinks that had there been an award for 'violent death most likely to traumatize an eleven year old boy forever', the Nunda would have won it. Another part of him thinks that he has to be the most irresponsible guardian angel ever.

"Dean, it's done." Castiel says, pulling on Dean's sleeve. "We need to go."  
"Right. Yeah." Dean says, clearly stunned by what just happened. "Let's get out of here."

* * *

Dean was unusually silent on their trip out of the Forbidden Forest, and Castiel wasn't quite sure how to broach the silence. He was not particularly skilled at social interactions even at the best of times, and Dean had always been frustratingly hard to understand due to his habit of burying his insecurities under layers of bravado and false smiles. His masks aren't nearly as well developed now, but Castiel knows that Dean will never willingly admit to being disturbed by what just happened, much less explain why. Sam was always better at getting Dean to open up about something like this, but Sam was seven years old right now and Castiel could not rely on him to have the emotional maturity necessary to stitch together Dean's psyche after, well, whatever emotional trauma the Nunda's horrifically violent death had caused.

"Taking a life is not supposed to be easy, Dean."

"Shut up."

Castiel supposes that Dean's apparent anger means that he has correctly guessed what was on his mind. He thinks about telling him that it gets easier, but stops himself just in time. He doesn't want to have to explain how he knows this fact, doesn't want Dean to know that he has killed so many that he has honestly lost count- and more then that, he is starting to realize that he does not want Dean to have to get used to it.

"If you want to talk about it…"  
"There's nothing to talk about. The thing was a monster. It was right to kill it."

"I never said that it wasn't, Dean."

"Then why even bring it up?" Dean snapped, picking up his pace so that he walked ahead of Castiel.

Castiel suppressed a sigh. Somehow, younger Dean managed to be even more frustratingly hard to understand then older Dean.

* * *

Gabriel was waiting for them at the castle. Castiel supposes that he shouldn't be surprised- the archangel had most likely been somehow monitoring their every move so that he didn't 'miss anything'. He felt Dean stiffen beside him. "Crap. We are in so much trouble."

"Quite the astute observation young Winchester! Do you mind telling me what the two of you were doing in the Forbidden Forest? You do know that it's forbidden for a reason, don't you? Lots of dangerous things out there."

"We had it under control." Dean muttered.

"Well it sure doesn't look like it." Gabriel said, motioning to their dirty robes. "As a matter of fact, it looks like the two of you stupidly went and started a fight with a dangerous creature."

"Well I'd say that the 'dangerous creature' started it, and we finished it."

Gabriel narrows his eyes and Castiel mentally cringes. He understands that Gabriel is a teacher and therefore an authority figure that Dean is contractually obligated not to respect, but seeing him react to his playful jabs with such open hostility was somewhat worrying considering that the Defense teacher had the power to unmake him with a snap of his fingers.

"It's my fault." Castiel says, a declaration that Dean almost immediately begins to protest. Gabriel raises an eyebrow as the two of them argue about who is to be held responsible for their trip into the Forbidden Forest.  
"Well if the two of you would stop arguing for a second, I'm going to have to assign both of you detention. Of course, you're going to have to serve it after Winter break is over, so I suppose you get a few more weeks of freedom. But just so you know, I'm going to be spending the break figuring out just how to make the detentions as miserable as possible, so that should give you something to look forward to this Christmas."

Gabriel broke into a large grin, and Castiel and Dean looked at each other nervously.

This was most definitely going to suck.

* * *

To be continued….

Please Review!


	9. Home For the Holidays

Dean Winchester and the Book of Dreams

Chapter 9: Home for the Holidays

* * *

Gabriel was not happy.

"You know, I wish that I could say that I'm disappointed in you, but really I wasn't expecting anything different. Dean was obviously going to get himself involved and you were obviously going to follow him even though you're supposed to know better."

Castiel looked at his brother in confusion. Gabriel was getting more upset by his and Dean's misadventure in the Forbidden Forest then he would have expected.

"Why do you care?"

"Because believe it or not, I enjoy watching you two idiots running around and I can't very well do that if you're dead."

Castiel blinked. "What do you mean?"  
"I mean that your little buddy Dean isn't the righteous man anymore- no more special treatment from upstairs. And you're- well, mostly human; human enough to where you can be killed. So if either of you die then that's it. You're dead. And then I'm going to have to find a new hobby- As much as I might want to I'm not going to be upsetting the natural order and bringing you back just for my own amusement. Even I have standards."

Castiel felt a sudden chill as he realized what Gabriel was saying. He and Dean had had a genuinely close brush with death.

The news was troubling, to say the least.

* * *

"Was your brother mad at you?" Dean asked as soon as Castiel returned to the Hufflepuff common room.

Castiel shrugged. "I honestly can't tell. He's hard to read sometimes. But he did raise a few good points."  
"Like what?"  
"We both could have been killed."

Dean normally would have argued with this point, insisted that he knew what he was doing and that he had everything under control. But he knew that the words were true- he had totally blown his first attempt at hunting. If Cas hadn't been there, hadn't taken control of the flamethrower at the last minute, he probably really would have been killed. His Dad would have been so pissed if he could have seen him- training for it practically his whole life and when it came down to it, he had frozen. And if that wasn't bad enough, some insane part of him was actually almost sorry for the goddamned monster.

"Gabriel says that he's sent a letter to Bobby telling him what happened."

Dean groaned. Bobby was sure to give him an earful when he got back. "I'm never going to hear the end of this am I?"

* * *

The ride back to Kings Cross station was made somewhat awkward by the fact that Professor Novak had invited himself into Dean and Castiel's train car and spent the entire time munching on an oversized chocolate bar. Castiel sat next to him, even stiffer then usual, as though he was somehow expecting his older brother to snap and start beating both of them to death with a baseball bat or something. Dean felt kind of guilty for getting Cas in trouble- if the uncomfortable silence in the train was anything to go by the dude probably wouldn't be able to have much fun this Christmas.

Then again, judging from the pissed-off looking expression that Bobby was wearing as the train pulled into the station; the break wouldn't be a cakewalk for Dean either.

Bobby was waiting for them outside the train, Sam standing beside him. As soon as Dean stepped onto the platform, Sam ran out and gave him a big hug.

"I missed you, Dean."

"Yeah, me too Sammy."

Sam abruptly broke the hug and looked up at Dean with an entirely serious expression. "You're in _so much_ trouble, Dean. What were you thinking sneaking into the Forbidden Forest? Anyone could tell you that was a bad idea."

Dean made a face and shoved his brother. It was bad enough that he was going to have Bobby and Professor Novak telling him off, but they were adults and it was their job to disapprove of the things he did. Sam was another matter entirely. As far as Dean was concerned, as long as he was taller than him, Sam was not allowed to call him out on anything.

Professor Novak climbed out of the train behind him and approached Bobby.

"Mr. Singer! A pleasure to finally meet you- young Dean has told me quite a lot about you."

'_No I haven't.'_ Dean thinks, looking to Castiel who merely shrugs.

"Good things, I hope."

"Oh, of course. How has the magical world been treating you? I imagine that it must be quite an adjustment."

"Not really."

"Well that's good to hear. I suppose that you got my owl?"  
"You bet. Do you have any idea why these two would do a fool thing like sneak into a monster infested forest?"  
"Apparently it was on a dare from a fellow classmate."

Dean looked at Castiel again. He knew that he had not provided the Defense teacher with that particular lie and judging by the confused expression on Castiel's face, he hadn't either.

It was just as well though- Bobby would certainly handle the idea of him going into a forest on a dare better then him intentionally tracking down a dangerous beast.

Bobby nodded. "You ready to go, Dean?"

"Yeah. Hey, Cas- I guess I'll see you later." Dean said.

Castiel looked at Dean with barely contained panic as Gabriel started to drag him away.

* * *

Sam had somehow managed to become even more obnoxious while Dean was away.

"Come on, tell me!"  
"I already told you and Bobby that we went into the Forbidden Forest on a dare, now shut up about it!"

"You may be stupid but you're not an _idiot_, Dean- you wouldn't go into a monster infested forest just because somebody dared you to. So tell me the real reason, or I'll never stop bugging you about it."  
"Fine! But if you ever tell Bobby I will literally murder you in your sleep."

'Deal." Sam said, leaning closer.

"Me and Cas went into the Forbidden Forest on a hunt."  
Sam gaped. "A hunt? You mean like Dad's kind of hunt? I change my mind. You are an idiot."

"There was this thing called a Nunda attacking the students, so we tracked it down and killed it."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? I couldn't just let it go around hurting people."  
"I mean- why did it have to be you? This is the magical world, Dean, there are people who are trained to deal with this sort of stuff."  
"Not well enough, apparently. Look, it all worked out in the end, so no big deal. You should be glad- this just proves that your big brother is a badass."

"My big brother is a dumbass."

"Hey!" Dean shouted, shoving Sam. "Respect your elders!"

Sam stuck out his tongue and ran out of the room as Dean started pelting him with throw pillows.

* * *

Christmas was just around the corner and Bobby had taken Sam and Dean to Diagon Alley for some last minute Christmas shopping. After several minutes staring at a currency conversion chart that Bobby had drawn for him, Dean had finally given up on ever understanding how the ridiculously counterintuitive wizard currency system works and decided that so long as he doesn't run out of wizard money he doesn't care how much the stuff costs.

He buys Sam a pretty awesome wizards chess set (Sam had mentioned playing the game with his friend Ron and even though Dean hated chess he had to admit he could see the appeal when the pieces beat the shit out of each other).

He got Bobby some old and impressive looking book about protective charms because that just seemed like the sort of thing he would like.

He still had two Galleons and one Sickle left over (whatever that translated into), and he figured that he should probably get something for Castiel. He had never bought a present for a friend before- never really had a friend before, and Castiel was distressingly hard to shop for. Finally, after wrapping Sam's and Bobby's presents in several layers of bags, he went to go get help.

* * *

Sam looked at him like he had just asked the stupidest question in the world. "Just get him what he likes."

"That doesn't help me, Sam!"

"What, don't you know what he likes? I thought he was like, your best friend or something."

"He is, it's just… he doesn't really talk about himself that much. Like, even less then I do and I actually have a valid reason for not talking about myself."

Sam rolled his eyes, clearly thinking that Dean was being an overdramatic idiot. "Well then what does he talk about?"  
"School?"  
"Besides school. Hasn't he ever mentioned anything that stands out?"  
"Dude, you don't know Cas. Everything he says stands out. Did I ever tell you about the one time I started complaining that you can't use phones in Hogwarts and he starts going off about subsonic damper fields or some crap?"

Sam blinked. "Sounds like he's a fan of science then."

"Yeah, maybe, but I'm not going to get him something like that for Christmas. I want to get him something cool."

"Well then what else is there?"  
'I don't know, man- the dude's weird. I mean, I guess it's because his whole family is wizards or something, but sometimes it seems like he's an alien or something. He has no idea what I'm talking about half the time."

Sam suddenly lit up into a smile. "That's it! You should get him something from the muggle world."  
"What, seriously?"

Sam nodded. "Believe me- wizards get amazed by a lot of the stuff that we take for granted- like they think that our stuff is just as magical as theirs somehow. Mr. Weasley has this huge collection of plugs."  
"Plugs?"

"Yeah, I know, it's crazy, but he's fascinated by the things. Half the times we go over there I think it's just because he wants to pick Bobbys brain. And this one time when Ron came over to our house, I suggested that we watch a movie and he had no idea what I was talking about."

"What, you mean like he'd never seen a movie before?"

"That's exactly what I mean, Dean."  
Dean was stunned. No wonder practically all of Deans pop culture references seemed to go straight over Castiels head. It hardly seemed fair that Castiel had lived his entire life without exposure to pop-culture, and it was Deans duty as a friend to correct this in whatever way he could.

Since, according to Sam, if the Novaks were anything like the Weasleys, then they weren't likely to own a VHS player, or a TV, or even electricity, buying Castiel a movie was out of the question. Dean manages to get Bobby to promise to let Cas come over as many times as he wants this summer and buys him a copy of 'The Hobbit' instead, because he has to start Castiel's lessons on Muggle pop culture somewhere.

* * *

Bobby might not normally be big on celebrations but he was determined to make this Christmas a success. He knew that this had been a rough year for the boys- it would be their first year away from their father, the first in a new home in a new country. While both Dean and Sam seemed to be adjusting to this new world as well as could reasonably be expected, he wanted to give them a few extra good memories to help them through the transition.

Looking at the decorations now, however, he isn't quite sure that he succeeded.

"What the Hell, Bobby? What's up with these ornaments?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They're protective charms from ten different religions."  
"They make the tree look like it was decorated by a bunch of devil worshipers."

"I like it." Dean declared. "It looks kind of metal."  
Sam was still not impressed. "Why does the tree even need protective charms? We've got all this stuff painted under the floorboards anyway."

"…I couldn't think of anything else to decorate with." Bobby admitted sheepishly.

"You know, I've been meaning to ask you this for a while now- where are you getting all the money to buy this stuff? Did you just have a secret stash of money hidden in a bomb shelter somewhere?" Dean asked.  
"Well I do, but that's only for emergencies. The truth is, I've started something of an export business. A lot of hunters back home will pay good money to get there hand on some of these magic ingredients."

Dean blinked. "That's actually a really good idea."

"Well you don't have to sound so surprised." Bobby grumbled. "Come on, let's open presents."

Bobby had gotten Sam a series of books that Dean had never heard of but that Sam had apparently been meaning to read for a while. Dean, meanwhile, got a record player from Bobby and a copy of Star Wars from Sam.

Sam seemed to have been thinking along the same lines as Dean when he bought Bobbys present, and had gotten him a book entitled 'Protective Potions for the Paranoid'. Bobby grumbled a bit about that, saying that he did in fact have other hobbies besides researching protective spells.

Castiel had sent a heavy package by owl- inside were three smaller boxes labeled 'Dean', 'Sam' and 'Bobby'.

"Your friend got both of us presents too?" Sam asked. "Now I feel bad for not getting him anything."

Dean shrugged, opening the letter that was attached to the box.

_Dean-_

_ Your owl delivered your gift a few days ago, but Gabriel won't let me open it yet. I don't fully understand his reasoning but he insists that it is a holiday tradition. The house has been brightly decorated and very loud since I returned. Gabriel has parties almost every night and he keeps feeding me Christmas cookies no mater how many times I ask him to stop. This is the first time that I have ever celebrated Christmas so I don't know if this is also a holiday tradition or not. To tell the truth I don't understand this holiday very well at all- from what I understand it is meant to celebrate Christ's birth but if that were the case wouldn't it make more sense to celebrate it on his actual birthday instead of on December 25__th__?_

_Regardless, I've enclosed gifts for you and your family, and hope that the holiday is treating you well._

_Castiel_

"You want to open yours first, Bobby?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, it'll be nice to get something from someone who doesn't think that I'm a paranoid old coot." Bobby said before opening the box and promptly freezing.

"Bobby? What is it?"  
"A book about Enochian warding symbols."

Dean burst out laughing while Sam tried his best to look sympathetic.

"Maybe next year, Bobby."

"What did he get you, Sam?"

"Uh … a criminal law textbook?" He said, looking at Dean for some kind of explanation.

Dean shrugged. "Hey, I don't know how the dudes head works."

"What did he get you?"

"Uh- a bunch of protective charms, I think. And a-"

Dean froze as he dug deeper into the box- inside was a scale model of a '67 Chevy Impala.

* * *

To be continued…

Please review!


	10. The Real Me

Hey everybody! Thanks again for all your continued support; it's good to know that my ridiculous ideas are able to entertain you. Let me know if there's anything I can improve or if you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

**Dean Winchester and the Book of Dreams**

**Chapter 10: The Real Me**

* * *

Castiel knew that he had somehow screwed up as soon as he saw Dean on the train back to Hogwarts.

"What the hell is this?"

"It's a model Impala, what are you talking about?"

"No, I mean- I never told you about this. How do you know about my Dads car?"

"You must have mentioned it." Castiel says, finally understanding what the problem is.

"No, I didn't, and I know because I don't talk about my Dad. So then how did you know about this? Are you spying on my brain? Using some kind of mind reading spell to look into my head?"  
"No."

"Well then what? You've got to give me some kind of explanation here, Cas."

Castiel stares at the ground, unable to explain or come up with a believable lie, and when Dean storms off he isn't really surprised.

* * *

Gabriel hummed as he walks down the hallway. That had been an extremely enjoyable break. The local Pagan Gods sure did know how to throw a party. Though he still couldn't decide weather he was annoyed or amused by the disapproving glare that Castiel had given him for literally the entire time. He decided to go with amused. Less fuss that way.

He paused mid step as he caught sight of the fallen angel in question staring out the window. Gabriel wondered briefly if Castiel consciously decides to look either angry or troubled, or if it just happens naturally.

"Heya Castiel. What are you pouting about now?"  
"I am a millennia old warrior of God, I do not pout."

"Sure you do, it's practically your default expression. So what happened this time?"

Castiel stared out the window for a long time before muttering, almost to himself "It's Kryptonite all over again."  
"I'm sorry, _what_?" Gabriel asked, confused. "You know, you're not allowed to make references that I don't understand. I'm pretty sure that violates some kind of universal law or something."

"I accidently told Dean that I knew more than I should have."

"And what does that have to do with Kryptonite?"  
"Nothing." Castiel insisted, clearly wanting to drop the topic.

"All right, all right. So I'm guessing that right now Dean thinks you're some kind of creepy stalker then?"  
"He thinks that I've been using a spell to read his mind, yes."  
"I can see how that could be a problem then. You know, we could just lie- tell him that you're slightly psychic. There's nothing wrong with being psychic."  
"No." Castiel said coldly. "I may not be able to tell him the truth, but I'm not going to lie to him. Not again."

"Well, to be fair, last time you were hiding some pretty big, dangerous secrets. Comparatively speaking, this is harmless."  
"I said no, Gabriel." Castiel insisted, leaving no room for negation. "It started small last time too- I'm not going down that path again, no matter how much easier it may make things." Gabriel couldn't help but feel a strange rush of pride at that. His baby brother was finally growing up!

"All right then, no lying to Dean then."

Castiel looked up. "Thank you."

"Of course, that does complicate things."  
"Not really. I'll just have to watch over him from a distance now."  
"You mean become an actual stalker?"  
"I don't care what he thinks of me, so long as I can keep him safe."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "Well so much for honesty."  
"All right, I care, but it doesn't matter."

"What, your feelings don't matter?"  
Castiel nodded, turning back to the window, effectively ending the conversation.

* * *

Gabriel knew that he was pretty far from the most sensitive, caring person in the world, and he definitely did not make a habit of getting himself involved in other people's problems, but he wasn't about to let a simple misunderstanding ruin his younger brothers only real friendship.

"You wanted to see me, Professor?"

Gabriel smiled, picking a piece of candy out of the bowl on his desk. Dean was tense, suspicious, and he kept glancing at the door.

"I'm guessing that since you look like you're about to jump into your fight or flight mode that you already know what this is about. Well relax. I just want to talk."

"Talk about what?"

"Castiels poor choice of Christmas presents for one thing."  
"So you know about that too, then?"  
"Don't look at me like I had something to do with it! I have a bit more experience at blending in than my brother; I would have known to get you something more generic."

"Blending in? What are you talking about?"

Gabriel paused, actually second guessing his course of action for a moment. There was a very strong possibility that Dean would take what he was saying very, _very_ badly.

"I mean blending in with you humans."  
Dean inhaled sharply, becoming immediately hostile. "You're not humans?"  
"Well, Castiel is- or as close to human as something like him can get, but technically no."  
"Well then what the hell are you?"  
"Angels."  
Dean actually started laughing. "No way. You actually expect me to believe that? There's no such thing."

"Your wand would suggest otherwise."  
"It's probably just from some winged creature wizards have taken to calling Angels for some reason, but angel angels? Actual angels from the Bible angels? No way."  
"Why is it so hard for you to believe?"  
"Because- if angels really exist then why is there so much evil in the world?"

"Angels are not allowed to interfere with the earth without instructions from heaven."  
"So you all just sit on your asses and watch people get torn to shreds by monsters?"

"Not always. Every once in a while, an angel will decide to take a more active roll in the world. Like myself, for example."  
"Yeah, a lot of good you're doing, traumatizing classrooms of students instead of going out and dealing with the real problems of the world."  
"Teaching is a noble profession- guiding the minds of tomorrow to help build a better future. Also, I need to watch over my younger brother."

"So then… Castiel is an angel too?"  
"Was. He's human now- or as human as an angel can get. I stripped him of his powers before bringing him here."  
"Why?"  
"That's not my story to tell. I'm only telling you this much because you were jumping to ridiculous conclusions and Castiel is no fun when he thinks that you're mad at him."

"Why?"  
Gabriel snorted. "What do mean why? You're probably the first friend he has had in his long, boring life."

* * *

Dean walked down the hallways, deep in thought. He felt like his entire worldview had been thrown into question. He hadn't believed in angels since he was four years old and now he had proof that-

He stopped, shaking his head. No. Not proof. Just because Professor Novak said that he was an angel didn't mean he was telling the truth.

Except that it hadn't felt like a lie, and for a moment in the office he had felt a power inside the teacher, something greater than anything he had felt before.

But it didn't mean that he wasn't lying, just that he wasn't human. Monsters lie all the time, it's what they do. He was just trying to get Dean to let his guard down.

Except that he knew, almost instinctively, that weather or not he had his guard up didn't matter. Whatever Professor Novak was, he could probably kill Dean and everyone else inside the castle a million different ways if he wanted to, but he hadn't. Instead, he was pretending to be a teacher- had actually become a teacher, one of the better ones even. Dean couldn't see the point.

Everything that his dad had taught him suggested that supernatural creatures did not ever want to play nice. They lived only to kill, torment, and feed off of humans, and when you found one you needed to kill it before it killed you.

But since he had come here, he had seen that this was not always the case. The magic wasn't always bad and sometimes the monsters didn't want to hurt you. And now, after meeting the most powerful, dangerous creature he had ever come across, he was considering trusting it. Because despite everything, Professor Novak was one of his favorite teachers and Castiel was the best friend that he had ever had, and he wanted it to stay that way.

He can imagine all too well what his dad would have to say about that.

Part of him wanted things to be simple again, when there was a good and an evil and he didn't have to worry about anything in between. But he knew that he couldn't. He had changed somehow, without even realizing it. He didn't belong in that world anymore.

* * *

He found Cas sitting by the edge of the lake, staring forlornly into the distance. Dean stood awkwardly for a moment, not sure how to broach the silence.

"Angels, huh?" he says finally, and Castiel looks up sharply, eyes wide.

_So much for the idea that Professor Novak made the whole thing up. _

"How did you-?"

"Your brother told me. I guess it's true then? I didn't want to believe it. I thought he was crazy- or that he's some kind of monster and lying, but he's not, is he? A monster, I mean."

"Gabriel defies definition."

"Yeah well- I'm starting to think that's true for a lot of things now."

Castiel looks back down. "I didn't mean to deceive you- it was… I just didn't know how to explain it to you."

"Hey, it's okay." Dean says. "I mean, that sort of thing doesn't really come up in casual conversation."

Castiel glanced at Dean. "I had also assumed that had you known the truth you would have stabbed me in the heart- and I'm human enough now that that sort of thing actually would kill me."

Dean narrowed his eyes, offended. "Dude, I would _not_ have stabbed you!"

Castiel laughs, as though the entire situation is some kind of private joke.

Dean doesn't get it, but he laughs along anyway.

* * *

To be continued….

Please review!


	11. Empty Pages

AN: Sorry for the delay on this chapter, I had a weird amount of trouble writing it. I think this will be the last chapter of this first 'year'- I do plan on writing the following years later, but I have another small Supernatural fanfic project that I want to work on first. It's probably only going to be a oneshot though, so it shouldn't take too long for me to write.

With that said, let's get back to the fic!

**Dean Winchester and the Book of Dreams**

**Chaper 11: Empty Pages**

* * *

The revelation that Castiel was not entirely human really didn't change things as much Dean thought that it would, though it certainly does explain why the dude was so out of touch with the rest of the world, both wizard and muggle alike.

Castiel seems relieved that Dean knows the truth, explaining that he doesn't like lying. Dean figures it's an angel thing, even though Professor Novak doesn't seem to have a problem with it- he doesn't need Castiel to tell him that that dude is pretty freaking far from an ordinary angel.

Dean has an easier time wrapping his head around the whole angel thing once Castiel explains that the Bible 'gets more wrong than it does right'. He figures that the angels are just some race of super-strong supernatural creatures that people decided to start worshiping because they weren't trying to kill everybody. Sort of like the old Pagan gods. The idea of heavenly guardians or some divine plan is just some fantasy that people created over they years. He could believe that.

He still doesn't understand what happened to make Castiel so close to human, or why. He figures that it is a sensitive topic though, so he avoids bringing it up.

* * *

Detention was, just as Gabriel had promised, horrible. The archangel had apparently decided that the worst way to punish Dean and Castiel was by boring them to death, and had scheduled extra lessons with Professor Binns during the weekends. The ghostly teacher went on and on in this horrible monotone voice about one goblin uprising after another. During the time before he had been allowed to interact with humanity, Castiel had at one point literally watched grass grow for an entire season, he was not a creature made to feel impatience, but even he was finding these lessons particularly unenjoyable. Dean, meanwhile, consistently looked as though he was five seconds away from either breaking something or passing out in boredom.

Dean finally erupted after their third extra lesson with the Professor. "It doesn't make any sense! The guy's a terrible teacher- no one ever learns anything in his class anyway, why is he still here?"  
"I suspect that it might have been an economic decision. Since he is dead, the school no longer has to give him a salary and they get a history teacher for free."  
"Cheap bastards." Dean grumbled, glaring at the wall as if to frighten the castle into taking some kind of action. Suddenly, his face lit up. "Say, Cas, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"  
Castiel's expression of confusion answered that question, so Dean leaned closer, grinning. "Judging by the fact that the professor is here, he can't be buried too far away. I think we ought to go pay our respects, if you know what I mean."

Castiel blinked, realization dawning on his face before nodding slowly.

This was not a hunt, they decided. This was a public service.

Fortunately it seemed that the only thing that Professor Binns enjoyed (that term being used loosely, of course) talking about more than Goblin rebellions was himself. After a few lessons spent pumping him for information in thinly veiled questions, the History teacher had revealed the location of a secret staff graveyard near the lake.

After that, finding and torching the Professors bones proved to be a rather easy endeavor.

* * *

The Great Hall was already abuzz when Dean and Castiel entered that night for dinner.

"Did you guys hear?" A fellow first year practically shouted at them as they sat down.

"Hear what?" Dean asked, hiding a smile.

"Professor Binns burst into flames while lecturing the fourth years earlier today- just out of nowhere! I mean, what does that even mean?"  
The students' outburst was cut short as Dumbledore stood in front of the gathered students.

"I have an important announcement to make before the feast can begin. Regrettably, it appears that Professor Binns has passed on to the world beyond. As such, it appears that History class is cancelled until we can find a suitable replacement." The students immediately began to murmur as they realized that they had both lost the most boring teacher in existence and gained a free period in one fell swoop.

And when Headmaster Dumbledore led the student body into the obligatory moment of silence for the now truly deceased professor, the occasion was marked more with the students' barely-contained glee rather than the solemnity that was most likely intended.

Dean and Castiel shared a private smile as the food appeared before them.

No one would ever know that it had been them, but Dean felt a sense of pride in knowing that in some small way he had made Hogwarts a better place for its students.

* * *

"I suppose that you both think that this is very funny."

"Yeah, a little." Dean replied without missing a beat, and dammnit, Gabriel had to give it to them, he really should have seen this coming. He had put a freaking ghost in charge of overseeing Dean Winchesters detention, what had he thought was going to happen?

"Well don't get too cocky. You two still have to serve out the rest of your detention with me."  
"Yeah, well at least it won't be boring now." Dean replied, unfazed.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. All in all, his plan to tell Dean the truth had achieved the desired result- Dean was no longer suspicious of Castiels strange behavior and Castiel had stopped moping about whatever rift that had formed between them. He knows that he should count this as a success. But really, if he's perfectly honest with himself, he had been hoping for a _bit_ more respect from Dean once he learned the truth. He was a friggin archangel after all, it would only be natural that the brat fear him at least a little bit.

He doesn't know why he's surprised. Dean had never given much respect to anyone besides his own father, and he certainly isn't going to start now- reality might have been warped but it hadn't warped that much.

He makes up for it by forcing them to perform progressively more bizarre tasks for the remainder of their detentions, reminding them that while he might not be boring, he is _creative_.

* * *

It is almost a month after their final detention before Dean is able to get the smell of fish out of his cloths. And suddenly, Dean realizes it the school year was over. It had certainly been an eventful one.

He makes Cas promise to come over during the summer and begins mentally composing a list of movies to show him. He doesn't know how it is possible for someone that is literally older than dirt to have never seen Star Wars, but it is an oversight he is going to correct.

Professor Novak grins and says that he will only allow Cas to come over if Dean comes on a trip with them sometime during the summer, a declaration that Cas is clearly unhappy with. "A trip where?" Castiel asks suspiciously and the archangel just laughs in a way that can only be described as maniacally before disappearing into thin air. Castiel grumbles something about how there had better not be any strippers involved this time. Dean decides it's probably better if he doesn't ask. He isn't about to put anything past Professor Novak ever again. That dude was capable of _anything._

He is surprised to find that he is enjoying himself more now than he can ever remember. After all, this life isn't the one he had planned for himself. And to be honest, some part of him still wants things to go back to the way they were before- the easy black and white answers to what is right and wrong, what is human and what needs to be hunted. Things were simpler then. Sometimes he thinks about that book, hidden away in a secret room, that shows the way things might have been.

But he isn't as tempted to fall back into that world as he was before. Because this new life isn't without its advantages either.

As he gets off the train, he is greeted by an overly enthusiastic Sam, who nearly knocks him backwards and into the train tracks with something that more resembles a tackle then a hug.

"Welcome back! Did you learn anything?"

"You know, I think I did." Dean replies, smiling.

* * *

To be continued…


	12. School's Out

Dean Winchester and the Book of Dreams

Time to get started on the second year- I know it's been a while, but I was having trouble figuring out where to go with it. Then I figured that this is fanfiction, it doesn't have to be perfect, and I should just have fun with it and see what happens.

Also, I'd like to apologize again for the inconsistency of the Harry Potter characters ages- for some reason it is horrifically difficult for me to keep track of who is in what year (especially since this takes place a few years before HP cannon and it feels like its been freaking forever since I've read the books) and while I am going to try to get them right, I have and will continue to make mistakes about this.

With that said, let's get started:

**Chapter 12: Schools Out**

* * *

Dean fidgeted nervously. He always hated it whenever Gabriel acted like a responsible adult- it usually meant that something unspeakably horrible was about to happen. The fact that Castiel was staring at his brother with an expression of absolute terror only further solidified his fears.

"So as you can see…" Gabriel continued, smiling politely. "Coming from an all magical family, I never even considered taking Cas to a Muggle zoo before now. I promise to bring them right back."

Dean looked at Bobby, a small part of him hoping that the mans rampant paranoia would give him some reason to deny Gabriels overly polite, well reasoned request to take Dean on a 'day trip'. But since Gabriel had already passed Bobbys holy water test and was, as far as the ex-hunter knew, a respectful adult, he really had no reason to.

"Sure. Just make sure to have them back by sundown."

Gabriel clapped his hands together excitedly as Sam walked in from the kitchen.

"What's going on?"  
"Oh, Mr. Novak here is taking Dean and his friend Cas on a trip to the London Zoo."  
"Cool! Can I come?"

"Sam, it's not polite to invite yourself."

"Oh, it's not a problem. The more the merrier, I always say!" Gabriel laughed good naturedly and Dean felt his blood freeze.

"I'm not sure that would be safe." Castiel says quietly.

"Oh don't worry, they keep all the animals locked up tight." Gabriel grinned, shooting his younger brother a look that quite clearly said 'not another word'.

"I suppose if it's all right with you." Bobby said. "I could use the time to get some cleaning done."

"It's settled then." Gabriel declared, clasping a hand on Deans shoulder. "We'll all be heading out then."

As soon as they walked out the front door, any remaining hope that Dean may have had about the day not being completely insane went right out the window. Parked in front of Bobbys house was a 1970 Pontiac GTO. It was an awesome car, even if it was painted lime green.

"This is your car?"

Gabriel grinned, an expression that only ever meant that terrible things were to come. "Hey, if you've got to travel, travel in style."

_We are going to freaking die._

* * *

"Hey, I think you're going the wrong way."

"Huh? No I'm not."  
"But the zoo is the other way!" Sam protested.

"What are you talking about? We're not going to the zoo."  
"But you said..."

"I lied!" Gabriel said before bursting into almost maniacal laughter.

Dean rubbed his forehead. "Then where _are_ we going?"  
"A carnival!"

"Why?"  
"For fun, obviously, why else would you go to a carnival?"  
Dean groaned. He wasn't really surprised, if he was totally honest. If anything, he was just glad that Gabriel hadn't decided to take them to the Serengeti or the Moon or something.

* * *

"I WIN!" Gabriel cried, excitedly grabbing a massive multicolored parrot from an incredibly confused looking carnival employee.

"You're cheating." Sam said flatly, staring up at the so-called adult.

"What on earth are you talking about?"  
"The four of us have won at almost every game that we've played since we got here. I know that Dean and Cas didn't do it, since it's against the rules for underage wizards to use magic-"

"Right, and the two of them would never think of breaking the rules." Gabriel snorted.

"-so that means that you've been doing it."  
Gabriel shrugged. "So?"  
"You can't do that, it's wrong."

"Sam, Sam, Sam…" Gabriel said, placing a hand on Sams head and messing up his hair.

"These games are all rigged against the player. All I did was even the odds a little bit- and not just for us, either."  
Dean looks around, just now realizing that a large majority of the crowd around them is clutching overly large stuffed animals. "Huh."  
"Well, that's even worse then! You're going to make this place go out of business!"

Gabriel shrugged. "Honestly, this place should have gone out of business a long time ago- the owner has been consistently ignoring obvious health and safety violations. He's endangering children's lives, just to make a quick buck!"

"You endanger children's lives all the time just for fun." Dean grumbles. Gabriel ignores him.

"You see, boys, the owner of this carnival is what I like to call an 'acceptable target'. Most people are pretty decent, but every once in a while you run into someone who is just a complete jerk. When that happens, it isn't just okay for you to use your powers to hurt them- it's almost a responsibility. To protect those that are weaker, you know?"  
Dean, Sam and Castiel all just stared at Gabriel, clearly both unconvinced and unimpressed by his philosophy. Gabriel didn't seem to notice their opinion, and ran off to go get some funnel cake.

"Wow, Dean, I thought you were over exaggerating in your letters. Sorry, I guess. Is he always like this?"

Castiel nods. "You get used to it after a while."

"I'm not sure I want to."  
"I'm not sure anyone wants to."

It is hours before Gabriel takes them back home. As he's driving them to Bobbys house, Gabriel loudly declares that it's a real shame he has to get them home so early, what with the night being so young and all, and Dean notices that Castiels expression has suddenly gone from peaceful to an all too common expression that Dean has mentally named Cas' _'oh my God, do not leave me alone with this lunatic'_ face.

Before he even realizes what he's doing, Dean finds himself asking if Cas can come over.

* * *

"I still can't believe that you've never seen Star Wars!" Dean says for what feels like the tenth time. "I mean, you've been alive for how long now?"

"Since the Paleozoic era." Castiel said briskly, eyeing the doorway that Sam had disappeared through on his quest to get 'popcorn'. He doubted that Dean had explained things to his younger brother- not because of any of the 'Winchesters keeping secrets from each other' reasons of the past, but because there wasn't really any way to say 'oh hey, my buddy here is actually a mellinia-old fallen angel' without sounding completely crazy.

"And in all that time, it never once occurred to you to see Star Wars?"

Castiel shot Dean a look. "I suppose I was too busy observing the evolutionary history of life on this planet to find the time."  
"Yeesh. Didn't you ever do anything fun?"  
"Not really." Castiel says stiffly.

Dean raises an eyebrow. "Wait, seriously?"

At that moment, Sam emerged, carrying a bowl that looked far too big for him. "I've got it!"

Dean clapped his hands and pulled out a VHS tape. "Then let's get this party started!"

The movie really was quite enjoyable, though Castiel has to consciously stop himself from pointing out the similarities between the story and many of the messianic myths he is familiar with since he doubts that Dean would appreciate the interruption. Halfway through the movie, Castiel finds it harder and harder to concentrate as Deans running commentary on who in their group gets to be what character becomes somewhat distracting. (Apparently, the fact that Dean gets to be Han Solo is not up for question) He can't remember a time when he has seen Dean so honestly enjoying something this much, and part of him wishes that he were still able to see Deans soul. He imagines that it is radiant right now.

* * *

The demon watched the house with bored disinterest. It was her first time out of Hell in- she honestly couldn't remember how long, and instead of being out celebrating she was stuck here on surveillance duty. Talk about unfair.

But Azazels orders had been crystal clear- she needed to watch over 'The Child', capital letters, make sure he stayed safe. And when Azazel gives you a direct order, you didn't question it.

But that didn't mean she had to like it.

She found herself beginning to hate the young Sam Winchester. He wasn't the first child that Azazel had corrupted- the ancient demon had done it for centuries, raising a practical army of those who gave in to the pull of the dark powers and fell to Hell, and ruining the lives of those who did not. She has even watched over other special children in the past- after all, it was an older siblings duty to make sure the young ones stayed on the wrong path, didn't die before they damned themselves and could join their true family. But Sam- Sam was 'special', Azazel had said, Sam was his favorite.

She hadn't thought that her father had picked favorites until now.

She honestly couldn't see what was so special about the kid. He acted like any other kid his age. Played with his older brother who was on break from some sort of magic school that apparently only taught the boring kind of magic, acted so freaking cute and innocent that it made the demon want to pull her own hair out in frustration. If it had been any other child, she would have written him off as a lost cause, one of the ones who was likely going to get away, except that her fathers 'plans' kept her from moving on to a more promising target.

Of course, the wards on the house kept her from getting too close. The boys guardian was obviously an ex hunter, and a paranoid one at that, so she was forced to watch from a distance. Which was boring and wasn't what she wanted to do with her time but hey, at least it beat Hell.

She first began to notice that something was wrong when the older boy (who was not one of her future siblings and she therefore did not have to care about) started having a friend over. The act in itself was not really all that interesting, since children liked having other children over for some reason that she couldn't really understand, so at first she ignored it. But the more often it happened, the more she began to get a strange feeling of suspicion about the boy. It was something about the way he carried himself, something that was just slightly _off_ about him that she couldn't place. There is something almost… other worldly about him, yet he walks through the various wards around the house again and again, like they were nothing. She tries to convince herself that she's just seeing things, but the suspicion just won't go away. So one day, she slips into a neighbors house and slits the owners throat, using the blood to call her father.

"Something's wrong."  
Azazel appears before she can finish, and part of her bitterly wonders just what it is about Sam that makes him so damned important.

"What's wrong, child?"  
"There was this boy- he went through the wards around the house, but I don't think he was human, he was… I don't know how to describe it."

Azazel hums impatiently, and the demon swallows her fear, knowing that if she has somehow wasted her fathers time, it will mean decades back in the pit. But the yellow-eyed demon takes one look at the house and suddenly all traces of boredom on his face are gone. She wonders if he can see something, some traces of energy that are invisible to her from within the house.

"You were right to call me, child." Azazel says, voice colder then she has ever heard it. (and she hadn't even thought that would be _possible, _when she had heard him order the unending torment of thousands) He is _angry_, she realizes, really and truly angry and all she can think is how glad she is that he is not angry at her.

"What is he?" She asks.  
"Something that does not belong here." Her father growls. "They've done a pretty good job of concealing it, but I would recognize that energy anywhere." He turns towards her and she involuntarily shrinks back. "I need you to follow him when he leaves. I want to know if he's working alone."

The demon nods, not understanding a word of what her father was saying but not willing to risk turning even the slightest amount of Azazels wrath towards herself.

"Yes, father."

* * *

To be continued…


End file.
